Homelessness is Hard Work

When I started this endeavor, I had ideas about trying to access some homeless services to see how easy it was to do so; to objectively look at how my agency and other service providers delivered services and maybe offer some suggestions as to how we could do better.  Four days into this, I am finding that all I have had time for is trying to figure out where I am going to get food and shelter and how I am going to get around the city.  Truly, these things have consumed me.  I have not been able to engage in any meaningful activities; anything other than finding resources to meet my basic needs.  I have never been more tired, or sore in my life.  I have blisters on my feet and I am absolutely exhausted.  I have been exposed to the elements; been beaten by the wind and rain.  I have slept in places not meant for humans to sleep.  I have waited in line after line after line to do things that I normally do on a daily basis without any thought; things like eating and bathing.  I have had to ask permission to use the restroom.  It is humiliating and tiresome.  That is what I have experienced in the past 4 days.  The people I have met out on the streets deal with it day after day after day.  And we wonder why homeless people can't just get a job and stop being homeless.  Like they choose to be subjected to these daily difficulties that are all-consuming; like they enjoy the disdain and humiliation they experience.


Without exception, every person that has commented to any posts on social media or commented about this blog have been very supportive.  They have said "Thank you for what you are doing".  They have called me courageous and someone even called me a hero.  I am not a hero.  I am not courageous.  I have never heard anyone call a homeless person courageous or a hero.  As a matter of fact, homeless people are often referred to as weak and as failures.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The people I have met over the past 4 days have a strength I could never have.  They have a resilience and fortitude that are foreign to me.  The next time you see a homeless person on the street, consider how much it takes each day for them to survive; to stand back up when they are knocked down again and again. 


Homelessness is hard work.


Much Love,
Jonathan