i'm weary of the homeless. i've grown tired of the pretentiousness of homeless agencies. i'm very bored and annoyed with their claims of success or newly found solutions to homelessness. i'm too aware of the fallacies of usich, hud and other federal agencies who exist solely to help the homeless but in reality do very little for the overall problem. today hasn't been any different. i woke this morning with the full intention of bringing down the website, deleting the homeless section of my facebook existence, and tweeting my last tweet.
this morning i went by the winter sanctuary that the friendship has every saturday morning during the winter months. i sat with the homeless and had coffee and chatted. i watched and listened as the people sat and drank coffee and slowly filtered in and out. i had some time to think.
take a look at these photos for a minute. really look at them for a minute or two. study the faces. these are homeless men,women and children. but more than that they're individuals. they are unique. sure, in the end the children are the ones i'm here for. they are the victims in the world where homelessness exists. they have not yet had to make choices or choose lifestyles that would put them into homelessness. they are the victims of someone else's choices or bad luck. they are the reason i think i'll continue on for awhile longer. children just like the ones pictured here die every nite without a home. children just like these sleep in cars, abandoned buildings or other places where no child should have to lay their head. if you think these children aren't aware or that they don't feel the fear or have the knowledge that they have no home or may not have food tomorrow....you are wrong. no child should experience those feelings or emotions or even have a second thought about tomorrows meals. no child, not one single one, should ever die in a mission, a shelter or on the street. none...not one single one. we as a country should be ashamed and embarrassed that this happens, not infrequently, but every single nite in our own country.
for today i'll continue on. they'll still be there tomorrow. so tomorrow, in my own way, i'll continue to try to be there for them.
see you around town