is this really what we want for our family members who are struggling with homelessness or are on the verge of becoming homeless? the world as they knew it has disappeared before their very eyes. it has been forever altered. they are no longer part of your world and in many ways you are no longer part of theirs. it's all come to a screeching halt. they have to keep moving as if nothing is wrong and nothing has happened. you have to keep moving also and continue on with your life. it takes all their inner strength just to survive each and every day in the world of homelessness. you wake up, put one foot in front of the other and continue to navigate the bumpy streets that you will come to know all too well before your ordeal is over. why place an additional burden on your family and friends by asking them for help and forcing them to say no or make excuses for not helping? you may or may not have seen it coming. it was there out of the corner of your eye like a speck of dust. you couldn't quite get it focused but you saw it, blurry as it was.
benjamin franklin wrote, "in this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes. they are both inevitable". homelessness is not inevitable. it is not a fixed dilemma in our society to be accepted and taken as the norm.
it is not something that can't be prevented or solved more easily than people seem to think. but in order for homelessness, which has been called multi layered, problematic and difficult situation to solve, to be brought under control you have to take matters in your own hands. you cannot be a neutral spectator whether you are experiencing homelessness or someone in your family is experiencing homelessness. it is not a spectator sport. it is an active participation situation that takes active involvement. it's not just about a last chance, a last stand or the final straw. alot of times it's about the smallest, the most minute detail that we all seem to forget. it's about love and caring for your family enough to never turn your back on them. it's about feeling so strongly about your mother, your brother, your sister, your brother, your niece, your nephew that you would never forsake them. you would never give up on them and you would never allow them to experience homelessness or live on the streets of this country. it's about you....and them.
solving homelessness is not difficult. it's very easy, it's very simple. it takes love and responsibility and caring for those in your own family. do not turn your back on them. it's not easy. it's not simple to do. it can be stressful, it can be emotionally draining. but if you do turn your back on them, if you do forsake them, if you do give up on them, not only do you risk losing them out of your life and allow them to fall prey to homelessness. you risk something far more dire, for more devastating and far more painful. one day, one night....poof...they're gone. just like that...they're gone from the face of the earth. homelessness has claimed another victim. they are dead. no notice. no nothing. homeless one minute....dead the next.
see you around town