I posted a meme, a short while back, not because I have some misguided belief that anyone cares who I am or what I am about but because someone “tagged me” to write about myself. If you do not understand what I am talking about, please skip to the previous post and work your way up.
After that post, I became an instant pariah. I am neither unused nor uncomfortable with that role though I do not aspire to it. I did not like being tagged for the meme but I am game to most every thing. I’ll play along but I am uncomfortable with fitting within pre-described rules. I thought I would use my meme as a teaching opportunity, to possibly expand a few minds.
When someone was finally honest with me, they said it was too revealing. Too revealing? It is supposed to be about me. I haven’t had a 90210 sort of life and I wouldn’t choose to forget my past even if I was able to. I have learned more from the lessons of life than I have ever learned in any book. My past is a blessing I would not disparage.
Since beating THE MAN, having freckles, arresting shoplifters, hanging spoons off my nose and stopping chain mail are not normally controversial subjects, I have to assume that admitting that I have been homeless is too revealing and judging from the response to my meme, it also made people uncomfortable.
I have thought a great deal about this and have determined their reaction is not my problem. On the internet (and elsewhere), I have read people’s accounts about divorce, domestic abuse, murder, grave illness, death, suicide, surviving rape, child molestation, and a laundry list of other uncomfortable subjects that make up life. I was hoping my meme might inspire. Instead it made people squirm. I believe this is a reflection on them, not me.
I don’t normally bring up my experience with homelessness in casual conversation but I also don’t hide it. To look at me, you would never guess I have been homeless but that is because of most people’s preconceived notions of what homelessness is. Virtually everyone is one serious illness, wrong decision or wrong investment away from homelessness. Homelessness is not the lot of just the extremely poor or mentally ill and it is about time we accept this in order to better resolve the problem.
The institutions set up to help the homeless are no better than the general public and help to perpetuate the stereotypes. Agencies are there to help the mentally ill, battered women, women with dependent children and people with substance abuse problems but if one does not fit in these categories, there is simply nowhere they can go for help which means it takes longer to crawl back to normalcy. What I find so scary is the longer one is homeless the more likely they are to become mentally ill and or a substance abuser in order the escape the reality of their situation.
Our social network compounds an already tragic and difficult problem. We can not bury our heads in the sand and pretend it away. Because I am sane, stable and capable I was able to claw my way out of poverty and homelessness. I was ever conscious that if I for a moment “looked” homeless it would only take me longer. The expense of frequent trips to the laundromat to freshen my clothes and traveling to places where I could bathe without being ejected or arrested meant less food and fewer savings for a down payment on a place to live. Maybe now that I am spelling this out a little more, you are squirming. You should.
The longer we ignore the plight of the homeless, the worse it will become. Previously normal and stable people will become mentally ill and a larger drain on our society. I am a living example of someone who fought my way out of poverty, out of homelessness, and into a successful career and a normal life. I am also not typical. Were it not for the no nonsense way my mother raised me to work hard, aim high and expect little, I would not be writing this. We can not expect others to go through this alone.
Lately I’ve been reading the blog by Matt D. Barnes*. He has been chronicling his experiences as a homeless person in England. If you think it is time to get your head out of the sand, understand the problem of homelessness and do your part to erase the ignorance surrounding this social debacle, this is recommended reading. *(Unfortunately, Mr. Barnes has since removed his blog from publication.)
