The first rule of being homeless: don't look like you're homeless. Generally, try to avoid letting anyone know that you're homeless. (This includes not staying in the same place every night.) The only reason would be if you were foolish enough to think that it's going to unlock some otherwise hidden hospitality in others or access to social services. It won't, or, if so, whatever it does won't be offset by how much it costs you in the long run.
The second rule of being homeless: don't spend $9 a day on beer and an additional $335 a month—a third of your income—on inessentials like coffee, ice, and jugs of spring water. (You shouldn't be trading water for cash unless you live somewhere like Flint, Michigan. If you've already broken rule #1 and people are gawking at you, there's no reason not to let them gawk at you as you fill your reusable water bottle from free/public potable water sources.)
I sympathize with the author, but I'm homeless, and I'm kind of horrified how many stereotypes he's ticking off, including being a guitar-toting writer/artist with a dog in tow. There's a reason why Rosa Parks became the icon of the civil rights movement and Claudette Colvins didn't. (Is that fair? No.)
> "We see right through the unshowered soul living in a car by the beach, or by the Walmart, or by the side of the road. But he’s there, and he used to be somebody"
Do we? No, we don't, not at first, not until we see it enough times to become desensitized to it, and we eventually realize the state/city/population ultimately doesn't care about these people, so we adapt those beliefs too, whether we want to or not.
I watched that happen to many colleagues, friends, family members, and even, regrettably over time, myself.
If you mention the homeless crisis to many people, many of the typical urbanites and suburbanites that populate every major city that is overflowing with homeless and open drug camps, the same people who vote for it to continue and for it to get worse and worse, the ones who vote to fund programs that clearly are making the problem grow and worsen rather than improve, they get very defensive, almost angry that you're bringing it up. Why on earth are you bringing up this topic? Quiet! And if you do talk about it, you better share the acceptable opinions on the subject, anything else is verboten. It's a strange social pressure, completely devoid of humanity.
The second rule of being homeless: don't spend $9 a day on beer and an additional $335 a month—a third of your income—on inessentials like coffee, ice, and jugs of spring water. (You shouldn't be trading water for cash unless you live somewhere like Flint, Michigan. If you've already broken rule #1 and people are gawking at you, there's no reason not to let them gawk at you as you fill your reusable water bottle from free/public potable water sources.)
I sympathize with the author, but I'm homeless, and I'm kind of horrified how many stereotypes he's ticking off, including being a guitar-toting writer/artist with a dog in tow. There's a reason why Rosa Parks became the icon of the civil rights movement and Claudette Colvins didn't. (Is that fair? No.)
reply