Story about a Homeless Man
When I use to go library in the Central West End. I would always see a homeless man sitting outside. He would just sit and sketch pictures. One day I was reading the Riverfront Times and there was an article about him. The article told about how he use to work for Mc Donnell Douglas ( now Boeing). He had been married and then mental illness started to take over his life. He lost everything. The article talked how his parents would come and visit him and give me a couple of dollars but never too much, because he had been robbed before and hurt.
Reading the article back then I began to realize that homeless people were not just skid row bums. I still did not identify with them until I had to walk in there shoes. Thank God when I was homeless I had shoes to walk in.
What being homeless taught Ly Syin
In March of 1998 I went to a shelter in St. Louis. I didn’t want to go but I finally went on a Friday night. When I arrived there nobody spoke to me. I sat in the chair by the television in the dormitory. It was an old school that was converted into a shelter. There a lot of cots in the dormitory that had been a gym. The first night I was scared to go to sleep. I left early the next morning and went to my grandmother’s house. I was fortunate then I had my own transportation and did not have to be at the shelter much. I would come back right before curfew. I did notice that women there took more care in their appearance then I did. They did not look homeless or hopeless. Most of the them were younger than me. The majority of the women were single parents. There were a few single women. Only two of the women seemed to have some mental issues. Ms. Mary was very friendly until she drank. Ms. Ann was never very nice. I wondered why the only people who were referenced with respect were the ones that were a little touched. Maybe it was because they were probably the oldest residents.
Looking at the young women at the shelter I thought they have their whole life a head of them. I never wondered how they got there. After I left I only saw one of women a couple of times. She was doing well when I saw her both times. The shelter had classes for the women to attend. If you had not graduated from high school or did not have your GED, you were required to take classes. They offered a lot of life skills classes for shelter residents.
When I was homeless in Atlanta in 2003 it was very different. Also everybody I meet was trying to get away from something. While I was in the Salvation Army shelter most the families were from another state and had come to Georgia with only the clothes on their back and hope for a better life. At the Atlanta Day Shelter the woman I saw seemed hopeless. I didn’t feel any southern hospitality as a homeless person in Atlanta. For the first week I had transportation, but it was after my engine blew in my car that I really began to learn how to get around Atlanta as a homeless person. I had to become focused not to become hopeless. I got oldest daughter in school and my youngest in daycare. I knew if they were taken care of during the day I could concentrate on job hunting. They would be comfortable in the air conditioning. I also knew they would be able to eat at day care and school.
I learned that some stability is better than none. When I left a shelter with a semi private room and bathroom attached and went to a church and slept in the sanctuary. At the church my belongs were stolen and I was not able to bath, so I could not do job search because my clothes were gone and my identification. I began to become a little more hopeless everyday at that point. Then I went to the new women’s shelter and I was able to get some stability again. I even managed to do some freelance audio-visual work.
At the women’s shelter we were required to attend nightly chapel service. Area churches would come and give a religious service for us. My youngest daughter would praise God during the chapel services. A lot of the women would comment about that. I thought about how before we became homeless we had went to a prayer breakfast and the speaker told me I need to learn to praise God. I thought instead of making the rocks cry out and praise him my baby was doing it when it should be me. I thought now I understood why homeless people knew the bible so well. I wonder was the cause of my being homeless a spiritual issue. I know I learned a lot about endurance. I learned a lot about faith and that God will provide.
REAL education
As parent it is important for me to educate my children, that is why I take them to the library and encourage them to read. I take them to zoo to learn about animals and for us to spend time together. I take them to the history, art, and science museums. While we were homeless in Atlanta we frequented the library, CNN Center, public transportation, and the park. In Atlanta just like in St. Louis, they haves right next the have not’s. In the park across from Coca Cola corporate headquarters, homeless people live. A few blocks away in downtown Atlanta is the World of Coca Cola building. Not far from the World of Coca Cola is Woodruff park were homeless people spend time.
In St. Louis the place where homeless people spend time is Lucas park by the main library in the heart of downtown st. Louis business district. The homeless are in the heart of downtown. Now affluent residents of the St. Louis downtown community what to remove the homeless. They have started a petition to remove the emergency shelter located a few blocks from Lucas Park.
The St. Louis media focus on the homeless. The seem to always get where the homeless are, they never bring us the story of the why the homeless people are homeless or who the homeless are. I want to inform you about who the homeless people are. The statics I found are national and not regional but I am sure Lucas park is a microcosm
According to a U.S. Conference of Mayors the homeless population is diverse:
- 20% work.
- 22% are mentally disabled.
- 11% are veterans.
- 34% are drug or alcohol dependent.
11% of the homeless are veterans, these are people who have risked there lives for my freedom and my children’s freedom. Why would I not want to teach my children to help veterans if they are struggling.
22% are mentally disabled, I teach my children not to make fun of handicapped people, shouldn’t we all be concerned about handicap people and their welfare. Is that not part of our civic duty?
It’s funny Missouri use to be a slave state. When slavery was legal the owners of slaves provided food, clothes, and shelter in exchange for labor. Now employers are not responsible for ensuring that employees have shelter or make enough money to afford shelter. They are not even required by the government to pay a mimiun wage that is above poverty. There is no reason working people should be homeless.
Drug addicts and make up 34% of homeless. Drug addicts and alcoholics may possibly be involved in criminal behavior to support their habits. Emergency shelter is not the most effective resource for this group. Long term treatment would be more effective.
In conclusion, I would teach my children to help homeless people to help change government polices, and give to charities that make a difference in homeless people’s lives. I would teach my children that homeless is just one word to describe a diverse group of people.
For information about homeless check out these links
http://www.homeless.org/do/Home
Homeless to Millionarie
This spring in Rags to Riches, I talked about how when I was in college Professor Wilgers asked the class could a homeless person become a millionaire, Achieve the American Dream. I thought the question was crazy. My answer was no. After listening to the discussion for a while. I explained to the class the homeless person would have to many concerns like food, shelter, and safety to be concerned with inventing anything. Thank God I was wrong and ignorant( uneducated the true definition according to Professor Wilgers).
Today I was reading the third story I have seen in the media in the last few years about a homeless person becoming a millionaire. The first story I noticed was Chris Gardner, Pursuit of Happyness. The next story was Tyler Perry play writer, director, actor, extraordinar. Now Bob Williamson. The common factor in their stories is that they are Christians. Now I am just waiting for a woman’s story. I realize there are some black actress and video vixens that have been homeless before, but they are not millionaires.
I realized as I was reading Bob Williamson’s story that these homeless men were like Joseph. In some cases family actually put them in a situation that was like a pit. These men like Joseph had been written off by society. Then like Joseph they had some success ( Genesis 39 His time at Potiphar’s House) only to fall down again. They continued to have faith through it all. God gave these men dreams just like he gave Joseph. Now the Bible does not say Joseph was a millionaire, but he did go from having nothing in that pit to being the second in command of Egypt.
God uses Homeless people for his glory.
