A State of Being Not a Quality

Today I visited Coalition for the Homeless. And it really is a coalition. David Shipler in his book mentioned frequently how a lot of "solutions" to poverty really only targets the symptoms and not the causes. Coalition for the Homeless attempts to target the main causes of poverty. They are not one of the shelters that maintain the "vortex of poverty" as it has so rightly been named. They want to help people move up in life. I was surprised by the variety of services and programs that Coalition offers to people that are homeless, especially all it does for families.

Over the course of the Immersion, my ideas and perceptions of homelessness and poverty have changed dramatically. During reflection, a thought occurred to me. Language is a very powerful thing. And as much as some of wield their words carelessly may not want to believe, words do mean things. When we think of someone who is homeless many ideas may pop into one's head. We think of the man who is grimy begging for money on the side of the road. We think of the woman pushing around a shopping cart in mangled clothes. They are lazy, they are dirty, they are stupid. They are to be feared. They make us uncomfortable. Whether you admit it or not, these are the usual responses. And I can be completely honest, homeless individuals make me anxious because of my stigmatized and stereotypical thinking.

When we think of homeless, I bet before this trip and before the book, few thought of the English and philosophy major. Few thought of the little kid who still manages to look somewhat decent in school because they live out of their moms car and still have nice clothes. No one thinks of the woman who is homeless after divorce, who has fallen from the comfort of her middle class suburban home. The definition of homelessness is simple. It is the state of being without a home. The word in itself has become twisted and convoluted. Instead of describing a state, a way of being, it is now used to describe a person. It is used to determine the and portray the background, the work ethic, the education of an individual, and that is a shame.

I am ashamed of my previous thinking as anyone who carried prejudiced views should be ashamed. I am greatly ashamed.