Homelessness
A homeless man has stationed himself right next to the local Whole Foods store, where I do my weekly grocery shopping.
He has an ever-changing display of signs, where he explains how he got to be homeless and asks people for any kind of help – even a can of beans. When it gets sweltering hot, or very cold outside, he disappears, and I always wonder where he is and hope that he was able to find a warm, clean homeless shelter.
Sometimes it is really hard to step out of Whole Foods with my full cart and walk past him. He looks at me, and I feel guilty and ashamed, not because I am personally responsible for his situation, but because I am part of a society that allows homelessness and doesn’t fiercely guard the human dignity and human rights of its members.
Homelessness is a violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms, including the right to liberty and security of the person, the right to freedom from discrimination, the right to privacy, the right to health, and the right to an adequate standard of living.
Up until now, I have dealt with the guilt and shame by including Shelter Network in our family’s giving budget, and by offering “my” homeless man an occasional food item.
Today, I am also blogging about it, as part of the Bloggers Unite effort.
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phyllis responds:
Posted: May 15th, 2008 at 7:34 am →
great post. i agree, it can be so hard to walk by someone stationed right outside a restaurant, grocery store, etc, without feeling guilty. there is a man who stands outside a starbucks i go to occasionally. i can’t tell you how many people ignore him on their way to get their coffee. i can’t imagine being a “regular” at that place and not feeling like this guy should be my own special project. i feel it and i only see him every couple of weeks or so!!
Marelisa responds:
Posted: May 15th, 2008 at 8:25 am →
You raise an interesting point Vered. I think that the right to life isn’t simply the right to survive, I think everyone has a right to thrive, develop their skills and talents, and enjoy life to its fullest. How much is that the individual’s responsability and how much is it society’s responsability? On the one hand, if you’re born into poverty and never given an opportunity (if you’re never told that you create your life and taught the basic skills you need to allow you to move forward), how on earth can you be expected to thrive? On the other hand, there are a lot of free loaders out there (I once saw an interview with a homeless person where he explained that he earned a lot more money begging than he would flipping burgers ar Mc Donalds, so why should he bother to get a low paying job). I think we need to work on giving everyone a chance from the very beginning of their life; that being said, if people squander that chance by being lazy and failing to take responsability for themselve, then they’re on their own.
Andre Kibbe responds:
Posted: May 15th, 2008 at 8:29 am →
The Whole Foods ubermarket in my neck of the woods has armed security stationed to prevent horrors like transients from troubling the public. Fortunately, Pasadena has a great organization called Union Station that I donate to that has a very well run shelter and food distribution program.
It’s always encouraging to see blogger, or anyone for that matter, challenge the indifference and contempt society has for the homeless.
Miranda responds:
Posted: May 15th, 2008 at 8:56 am →
Thanks for sharing this. Where I live (small town Utah, in the mountains), we don’t see many homeless. But when we venture to the “big city” we sometimes do. We feel our heartstrings tug as well. One thing that was great in another city we lived in: The shelter had cards with an address on them. We could take a few and then pass them out along with food or a couple of bucks.
Suzie responds:
Posted: May 15th, 2008 at 9:45 am →
I hate to say but I dont think most shelters would be discribed as warm and clean. I’ve worked in a few and I would say they are all pretty awful. Street life is pretty horrible.
Jen responds:
Posted: May 15th, 2008 at 10:00 am →
Homeless people do make us feel really uncomfortable, don’t they? It’s difficult to see another human being reduced this way. Thank you for this post.
Belém responds:
Posted: May 15th, 2008 at 10:01 am →
You blogged about it and you touched my consciousness. Two steps in a cause.
MomGrind responds:
Posted: May 15th, 2008 at 10:54 am →
@ phyllis: “i can’t imagine being a “regular” at that place and not feeling like this guy should be my own special project.” EXACTLY!!!
@ Marelisa: it’s very true that there will always be those who take advantage of a strong social system. However, I still believe that a society needs to provide support to the weak and ill – even if in some cases it will encourage certain individuals to exploit the system.
@ Andre: The best way I found so far to handle this is to donate. Glad you feel the same.
@ Miranda: small town Utah… I love how the internet connects people from different places and backgrounds. I suppose homeless people choose the city because they have better chances of surviving there – better access to shelters and to more people who would give them money.
@ Suzie: this just goes to show you how sheltered my life is. I have never seen a homeless shelter.
@ Jen: “It’s difficult to see another human being reduced this way.” Exactly.
@ Belem: Thank you so much for saying that.
Bloggers Unite for Human Rights | Crunchy Domestic Goddess responds:
Posted: May 15th, 2008 at 11:20 am →
[...] Vered at Mom Grind wrote about Homelessness [...]
Chris responds:
Posted: May 15th, 2008 at 1:32 pm →
I still don’t understand why spend $12 Billion on Iraq and we have people in the America who are homeless and hungry. Am I missing something here?
Computer Addict responds:
Posted: May 15th, 2008 at 3:45 pm →
Vered, I appreciate your sentiments, but they are misplaced, and the anecdote you choose clearly illustrates it. Your “Whole Foods homeless” is a very well known figure in the Silicon Valley – well known enough to have numerous newspaper articles written about him. He declined work offers, including an offer to work at the very Whole Foods he pan-handles in front of, he refuses to participate in work-for-food-and-housing programs, and basically expects to sue his way into a nice house – at tax payer’s expense.
MomGrind responds:
Posted: May 15th, 2008 at 4:22 pm →
@ Computer Addict: I just emailed you. I needed to edit your comment b/c I felt that it disclosed too much personal info about where I live. Anyway, this is very interesting and I guess illustrates what Marelisa said – that some people will always exploit social benefits. I still feel that those benefits should be given, and that homelessness is a serious violation of basic human rights.
As for the homeless in question, I am going to look into it, but if what you say is true, then perhaps I don’t need to feel so bad when I walk past him!
Kelly@SHE-POWER responds:
Posted: May 19th, 2008 at 11:07 pm →
For my ten cents worth, homelessness is a problem whether people want to give examples of how certain people choose to be homeless or not take jobs or whatever. that does not negate the fact that Australia and America are both countries where everyone should flourish and they don’t. That is not okay and making excuses by saying homeless people (as in the group, not one individual) choose their situation just shows how naive some people are about life.
I can’t comment with authority on the USA, but from what I read the homeless problem is worse than in Australia (we have a reasonable social benefits system) and it’s bad enough here. I’ve worked the soup kitchens and shelters and most of the people on the street have mental disease and those who don’t are so broken as human beings it’s gut wrenching. Many have no families or come from families you’d never want to have anyway. They have sunk so low they think scrounging through garbage bins is a life. Does that sound like someone who can pull himself together to get a job and communicate with average people with their judgments? And that’s not even talking about the junkies and drunks and the people who have resorted to selling ass.
It’s true you can’t save someone who doesn’t want to save themselves, but these days society is so intoxicated with the stories of life’s winners and so want to be a winner themselves, they don’t want to know about the losers. From them, we turn away.
Sorry, if I’ve got a bit intense about this but I have very strong feelings about poverty, disadvantage and mental illness in wealthy western natures like ours.
Kelly
MomGrind responds:
Posted: May 20th, 2008 at 7:27 am →
@ Kelly: please don’t apologize. I completely agree. Even if some will use the system, most homeless people are at a place where they need help and cannot possibly pull out of their situation by themselves.
Peter from Bend Oregon responds:
Posted: June 5th, 2009 at 9:17 am →
I am an attorney who has met with two homeless people who have been excluded by the management of a grocery store. The exclusion may or may not be justified; however, is there any law on the subject of excluding homeless people from stores or malls, and under what circumstances is it permitted or not permitted?
MomGrind responds:
Posted: June 5th, 2009 at 12:47 pm →
Peter, I am not a U.S. attorney, so nothing I say should be construed as any kind of legal advice, but as far as I know, a private business has the right to refuse service. However, refusing service can in some cases be considered discrimination, especially if it is done consistently and solely to a certain protected group.