A Letter 11.7.08

This was written by one of the people I know who is homeless. It's an open letter, and is grappling with the same issues that those of us committed to the cause try to understand--but from his own perspective. For him, homelessness is not as much an abstract injustice as a daily reality. He's about my age:

Homeless. When you hear that do you think alcoholic, bum, a person who holds a sign that gave up on life, or a social disease? That is the stigma that a homeless person deals with every day.

For example, I had to carry my 'Gear' on the day I chose to go job hunting. I saw this gas station that had 'Now Hiring' on the door. So I walk in for an application, and the person working said 'It's not for this store!' I thought to myself, 'then why do they have it one their door then?' I still see that person when I buy food with my EBT card.

I can remember when I was a kid, my grandfather and I were in the park eating sandwiches. This homeless person started to walk toward us. My grandfather said, 'Don't look at him or talk to him.' I didn't know at the time, but the stigma was there.

There are some positive sides of being homeless. The friendships, for me I like the free meal sites, and the nice people who give us change. There's this couple I know that have been together longer than the average married couple. They live under a bridge.

The free meal sites, man I can't believe that the homeless population isn't getting more obese 'cause there are a lot of kind people who donate food and the churches that serve the food.

When I panhandle I am very thankful to the people who help 'kickdown' some change and maybe a dollar or two. There are some people who see that stigma and don't acknowledge us but I'm not talking about them. I'm happy for the people who say, "I've been there." You people kick ass.

But my hand is getting tired, so I'll leave you with this. What do you think about us homeless, do you see the stigma like so many others or have you 'been there'?

-CT