Help the Homeless

Outside my local supermarket, near the doors, there is always a range of homeless people with begging hats and cups laid out before them. Demonised by many people, the homeless people have been moved on by the police numerous times. Facebook is littered with stories of how they have begged for money.

It would be very easy to join these people protesting against the homeless- complete with burning torch and pitchforks. Even if the police did succeed in moving them on- they are only succeeding in moving the 'problem' (if you can call these human beings that) to another location in the area. 

The problem is not the individual people. In my opinion, if you are willing to sit outside a supermarket in the pouring down rain at all hours of the night, you must be desperate. These people are simply desperate. I am sure they are not bad people. They have had things go wrong in their lives that have led them to this point. Maybe they did not have any support when they lost a job? Maybe they had no family to fall back on when their relationship broke down? Maybe they were brought up in an unloving home and now have their own problems because of that upbringing? Like I mentioned before, these people are simply desperate- they do not deserve demonisation or, even worse, dehumanisation. 

When I say this to people, I hear the following, "well they are drug addicts...", "well they spend that money on drink...". I have to agree with them. The majority of homeless people will be users of various substances. But the vital question that people forget to ask is- why are they taking these substances? I can't answer for each individual but my answer would be that they take these substances as a coping mechanism- I highly doubt that they would be taking them for fun. 

I am definitely not qualified to be able to give an answer to why our towns and cities have so many homeless people on the streets. However, I do possess enough humility to feel for these people and I want to help in which ever small way that I can. The question is one for society to answer. There are many clever people who operate in our society who would be able to give the answer to these problems. Have they had no opportunities? What has their education been like? Is it due to a perceived breakdown of the importance of caring for our families?

I did give the man some money- not a lot- but some. Before you judge me for 'compounding the problem' ask yourself how many steps it would take you before you ended up homeless... What if you lost your job? What if your relationship broke down? What if you had no savings to fall back on? What if your family turned their back on you? I bet there are a lot more people at risk of homelessness than we think. 

Think twice before you ignore and walk on.