Hateful Ignorance
The other day at the bus station, a man and a woman were talking. The topic meandered as they small talked. They started with the weather, until the woman made a comment about the garbage on the ground at the station. Neither of them, by the way, at any point took any action to clean any of it up. They both lamented on how people don't care. The conversation of the status of the bus station diverged slightly as the man related a story of another man who came by very regularly to ask for cigarettes. The man sharing his story decided to ask this cigarette man for cigarettes one day, before the cigarette man had a chance to ask. Apparently, cigarette man had cigarettes that he kept to give out to the homeless. It was never said but I filled in the connection that perhaps this man was asking for cigarettes so he could share them with homeless, rather than have to spend money on them himself. A solicitor for cigarette donations for the poor.
The conversation turned hard onto the homeless people of our city. Mostly it sounded like both this man and this woman hated homeless people, and largely viewed them as a blight on our society. They agreed that the homeless were responsible for much of the littering in our city. The man shared some personal anecdotes of interactions with the poor. They both shared their experience growing up and how they were taught to work, taught the importance and necessity of work, never given anything for free, "my allowance growing up was a roof over my head." The implication of course was that those who are homeless are so simply because they do not work, and that largely homeless folks would rather beg and get for free than work and pay for things on their own. I had to move to the far end of the station so I wouldn't hear any more. My blood was boiling, how poorly these people were speaking of good folks who fell on hard times. No compassion, no understanding, no caring, no respect.
I know that homeless folks are not homeless simply because they do not work. I have met a family that was on the street simply because the father had been laid off, and the mother was a stay-at-home mom. They had no other income, and lost their house and many of their possessions very quickly. They had no savings to rely on, had never been able to afford to save, and they had no family who could help enough. They lost everything, because of an impersonal job loss at no fault of the father's. These stories are common. I have seen how many of those panhandlers are disabled vets who were not helped by the government they served, who had no family, and who ended up on the streets. So many of these people have worked, or would work if they could but can't. The lack of a job should not guarantee a person or family is without a home, without food, without the basic necessities of life.
Disability, physical and mental, is a big cause of homelessness and poverty. Many of these folks have been disabled since birth or childhood, and have never been able to work. Do they not deserve a decent life just because they are not typically abled? They cannot work, so they should not live? Many of these people who have low opinions of the homeless and poor also have low opinions who rely on welfare to survive. Welfare has some of the lowest rates of fraud, and yet many people think that those who have no real need for welfare are "milking" it somehow. These benefits, in reality, are very regulated, very limited, and do not make anyone rich. It isn't an ideal way to live. But many folks are happy that welfare is there when they suddenly get laid off, when work is simply not available, or when some crisis hits. The disabled rely on that welfare to stay off the streets, because they cannot work.
I didn't butt my head in to the conversation at the bus station. I don't have very many personal experiences with the homeless, and have never been homeless myself. Plus I have social anxiety. I did not have the energy to debate with two strangers that would most assuredly gang up on me, nor did I think doing so would go well at all. But I have lived in poverty, I have many friends and acquaintances who have lived in poverty and been homeless. I have heard the stories of how people became homeless. It's not hard when you're living paycheck to paycheck, like the majority of United Statesians, for a sudden crisis to take everything away from you. If you've never had fear of that, you are privileged, you are lucky.
Mostly the experience of the conversation at the bus stop made me realize that I should do some research on homelessness. I should get together some facts and figures that I can bring up the next time I hear such a conversation. I've thought of not just memorizing facts of various things (including green energy, immigration, paganism, gender, and sexuality), but also printing up pamphlets or some kind of card that I can hand to people so they have some resources to fact check. I could have said to them, "Did you know that somewhere around 39,000 veterans are homeless each night? They served our country and came back disabled and unable to continue working. They were honorably discharged, to no family and a country that does not provide for them suitably. They cannot work. Do the men and women who have fought for our freedoms deserve to be homeless because they are disabled?" And then I could have handed them a card with some facts and links to the sources for those facts, like the Background & Statistics page on the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans website (nchv.org/index.php/news/media/background_and_statistics/).
If there's one thing I am passionate about, it's putting an end to ignorance that causes hate. There is no reason to disrespect people who have not show that they do not deserve respect. Respect should be the default, and ignorance is no reason to be hateful or disrespectful. I know that not everyone is open to knew information. I know some people are happy with their worldview, however harmful it may be, and will not change it because of facts and figures. Their own personal experience is more important and more correct to them than research and data. But a world rooted in ignorance and misunderstanding will always be a world of harm and desctruction. I may be a realist, but I believe in an ideal world based on compassion and open-mindedness. We will never have a world where everyone is loved if people remain hatefully ignorant.
The conversation turned hard onto the homeless people of our city. Mostly it sounded like both this man and this woman hated homeless people, and largely viewed them as a blight on our society. They agreed that the homeless were responsible for much of the littering in our city. The man shared some personal anecdotes of interactions with the poor. They both shared their experience growing up and how they were taught to work, taught the importance and necessity of work, never given anything for free, "my allowance growing up was a roof over my head." The implication of course was that those who are homeless are so simply because they do not work, and that largely homeless folks would rather beg and get for free than work and pay for things on their own. I had to move to the far end of the station so I wouldn't hear any more. My blood was boiling, how poorly these people were speaking of good folks who fell on hard times. No compassion, no understanding, no caring, no respect.
I know that homeless folks are not homeless simply because they do not work. I have met a family that was on the street simply because the father had been laid off, and the mother was a stay-at-home mom. They had no other income, and lost their house and many of their possessions very quickly. They had no savings to rely on, had never been able to afford to save, and they had no family who could help enough. They lost everything, because of an impersonal job loss at no fault of the father's. These stories are common. I have seen how many of those panhandlers are disabled vets who were not helped by the government they served, who had no family, and who ended up on the streets. So many of these people have worked, or would work if they could but can't. The lack of a job should not guarantee a person or family is without a home, without food, without the basic necessities of life.
Disability, physical and mental, is a big cause of homelessness and poverty. Many of these folks have been disabled since birth or childhood, and have never been able to work. Do they not deserve a decent life just because they are not typically abled? They cannot work, so they should not live? Many of these people who have low opinions of the homeless and poor also have low opinions who rely on welfare to survive. Welfare has some of the lowest rates of fraud, and yet many people think that those who have no real need for welfare are "milking" it somehow. These benefits, in reality, are very regulated, very limited, and do not make anyone rich. It isn't an ideal way to live. But many folks are happy that welfare is there when they suddenly get laid off, when work is simply not available, or when some crisis hits. The disabled rely on that welfare to stay off the streets, because they cannot work.
I didn't butt my head in to the conversation at the bus station. I don't have very many personal experiences with the homeless, and have never been homeless myself. Plus I have social anxiety. I did not have the energy to debate with two strangers that would most assuredly gang up on me, nor did I think doing so would go well at all. But I have lived in poverty, I have many friends and acquaintances who have lived in poverty and been homeless. I have heard the stories of how people became homeless. It's not hard when you're living paycheck to paycheck, like the majority of United Statesians, for a sudden crisis to take everything away from you. If you've never had fear of that, you are privileged, you are lucky.
Mostly the experience of the conversation at the bus stop made me realize that I should do some research on homelessness. I should get together some facts and figures that I can bring up the next time I hear such a conversation. I've thought of not just memorizing facts of various things (including green energy, immigration, paganism, gender, and sexuality), but also printing up pamphlets or some kind of card that I can hand to people so they have some resources to fact check. I could have said to them, "Did you know that somewhere around 39,000 veterans are homeless each night? They served our country and came back disabled and unable to continue working. They were honorably discharged, to no family and a country that does not provide for them suitably. They cannot work. Do the men and women who have fought for our freedoms deserve to be homeless because they are disabled?" And then I could have handed them a card with some facts and links to the sources for those facts, like the Background & Statistics page on the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans website (nchv.org/index.php/news/media/background_and_statistics/).
If there's one thing I am passionate about, it's putting an end to ignorance that causes hate. There is no reason to disrespect people who have not show that they do not deserve respect. Respect should be the default, and ignorance is no reason to be hateful or disrespectful. I know that not everyone is open to knew information. I know some people are happy with their worldview, however harmful it may be, and will not change it because of facts and figures. Their own personal experience is more important and more correct to them than research and data. But a world rooted in ignorance and misunderstanding will always be a world of harm and desctruction. I may be a realist, but I believe in an ideal world based on compassion and open-mindedness. We will never have a world where everyone is loved if people remain hatefully ignorant.
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