There’s No Place Like Home…
....Except maybe a Bass Pro Shop
Yesterday I was asked to do an interview with a local T.V.
station about the issue of homelessness in our local area. Since that’s what I
do for a living, it seemed like the right thing to do. Although…there was no
notice and I did not have time to put on my camouflage make-up to hide the
wrinkles, my blackest outfit to hide the bulges or my:
handy dandy all purpose curling/flat/straight/fluffy/smooth/shiny/no frizz hair styling products and tools. But
the lady was real nice. She said all you have to do is talk. Talk? Oh…I can
talk..bring it on.. I got this. I don’t have a clue what I said. Apparently I
compared my agency to a Bass Pro Shop and you just know somebody somewhere out
there in T.V. Land..said ...“Honey, did she just say Bass Pro Shop? Rewind
that…let’s send them some money.” I speak fluent redneck.
Now--I told you all that to tell you this--I did not say
all that I really wanted to say because my hair was frizzy and I looked bloated
and there is no way to concentrate under that sort of pressure. But I had a lot of good stuff rattling around in my brain so I will just say it here.
I work with the
homeless or those who are at risk of being homeless. Depending on where you
live, that can conjure up a lot of pictures in your mind. I grew up thinking
homeless meant that for whatever reason ( you are probably a drunk)… you end up
on the street panhandling and sleeping in a cardboard box. That does happen,
even in our rural area. But now that I have grown up (debatable) I understand that
there are many reasons why someone might be drunk panhandling on the street and
sleeping in a cardboard box. Homelessness has a very new face today... a very
young face, sometimes as young as one day old. Most of my clients are
families. These are families who have worked most of their lives. Parents who have
never asked for assistance of any kind and they don't know even know where to begin. Normal
folks just like me (questionable) and you. Going along with their lives, making
ends meet, doing the best they know how and then—something happens.
Sometimes the car breaks down on the way to work and they
don’t have the money to fix the car so now they can’t go to work to make the
money to fix the car…Catch 22. Or someone gets sick and with or without
insurance the income is gone or cut in half and the medical expenses add up. Medical expenses
are more than just paying the doctor or hospital. You need gas to go to a
doctor. In a rural area with gas pushing $4 a gallon, driving 200 miles round
trip to see a specialist adds up fast. Co-pays add up fast, two weeks of no
work and extra expenses add up fast and any one of those things can be the domino that forces all the others to fall on
their face. Before you know it you are one month behind on rent plus late
charges, late on the electric and just putting food on the table is a struggle.
This is how many cases of family homelessness begin. And yes, sometimes there are just bad decisions or issues of drug and alcohol abuse, domestic abuse, and mental
health. But you know what? The children in those families can’t help that. The
reasons have to be addressed if we are to truly help them succeed, but
discriminating between how someone became homeless doesn’t help a thing.
The nice lady from the news station told me that people have
said to her, “The more programs you have for the homeless, the more homeless
people you will have.” And I had someone recently say to me, “Well, if you are going to be too lazy to work and want a free ride,
what better place to be homeless than down here on the beach.” Remarkably, that person walked away with no
bones broken and face still intact. It makes me madder than a wet settin’ hen when
people sit in their ivory towers and judge someone they don’t even know. I have
been called a liberal and a socialist and a few other things I can’t say on a
public blog well.... sticks and stones may break my bones but stupid people don’t bother
me. I believe we are our brother’s
keeper and we should help everyone whether they deserve it or not. What they do
with that help is between them and God. I am not held accountable for what they
do, but I will be held accountable for what I do not do. I am commanded to love
my neighbor as myself and “myself” does not want my children sleeping in a car
or in a tent or in a house with no running water or electricity. Do you know
two words you should never hear together? Homeless and children. The bible has
a lot to say about that if we can read past all the popular sins people seem
obsessed with discussing.
But I digress…again. I promise you I did not just burst out
into a Bass Pro Shop commercial during the interview (of course that is never
entirely out of the question). I use the Bass Pro Shop analogy because:
1. I am bored with the ‘give a man a fish vs. teach a man to
fish’ saying.
2. It really is my philosophy. I know that you can feed, clothe and shelter anyone for a little while. It will comfort but it will not heal.
I believe we do people an injustice if we
let them take something for nothing. It is out of respect for our clients as fellow human beings that we hold
them accountable not because we are punishing them for being unlucky or even
irresponsible but because they deserve the opportunity to be self-sufficient.
Daddy Frank would always make me keep some money in my shoe
and later in my purse or somewhere. He said you always need a little bit ‘cash
on you just in case of an emergency. He would always make sure I had that ‘little
bit ‘o cash. When I moved away from home and had a family of my own he said, “I hope you still have that emergency money, but just remember if you
ever have to use it for an emergency, Daddy Frank may not be around to replace
it for you, you need to depend on yourself now." He called it “breaking
our plates”. It was an expression of how
much he loved us. He didn’t want us to be dependent on him because he knew that
was not the best thing for us. We don’t help the homeless be more comfortable
at being homeless but we do welcome them into the store and help them pick out
the best rods and reels and lures and some good sturdy fishing line and maybe even a
fishing lesson or two so they will be prepared to go out and catch the
proverbial fish.
And that..was what I really wanted to say. And just let me
add…the hair looks MUCH better today than yesterday…the bloating…eh..not so much.
This is a link to one person's story of hope and overcoming barriers.
http://www.wmbb.com/story/19335222/the-changing-face-of-homelessness-part-2
For more information about homelessness visit our website.
You will find links there to other agencies throughout the country.
You did a good job today, so I am thinking you probably did a good job yesterday too. No matter how ya looked! Besides if you look too good nobody would listen to what you said, they would be looking at how good you look. See, there is a reason for everything.
ReplyDeleteHaha...then I am in no danger of anyone NEVER listening to me. Especially on a rainy day. haha Thank you Cyndi
ReplyDeleteVery well said Dianne. In our busy lives we tend to forget that we are all just a few paychecks away from being Homeless. Keep up the good job.
ReplyDeleteThank you MarySue....
DeleteIt's awful easy for people who have never been in a situation to put down those that are and say they will not give their ''hard earned'' money to such. Little do they know that as you said, the majority of the people their talking about are ashamed to ask for help and will have it no other way than to fight as hard as they can to do it themselves. They just need a helping hand to lift them UP, just a little, and then sit back and watch them fight back to even better than they were before. People, in my opinion, that end up being homeless are not the ''lazy bums'' living off others that people wanna think they are...those people, the few in the system that do take advantage, have been living off others all the while. THEY are not homeless!! It's the ones who refuse to ask for help that wind up in the street!! And like you also said, no child deserves to have to live one day wondering if they are going to have food at home that night or if there will be a home and although it doesn't change what their parents are, anyone who can put a child in that place, REGARDLESS of the parents doings, in my opinion, is just heartless to begin with and stuck on SELF SELF SELF. But there is hope in the fact that their are some, like you Dear Dianne, that will fight hard enough to replace ten or fifteen of the uncaring bunch and as long as people like you are fighting there is hope and a voice!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Leigh, as long as there are people like you who understand there is real hope.
DeleteI like to think that there are alot of people who really do understand, we just don't know of as many of those people because they are not trying to make a point to everyone. Not in the same rude and ''push it in everyones face'' way that the others are. People with understanding hearts also tend to have alot more respect for other people, in my opinion, than those who do not try and understand.......
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