Homelessness

As I was walking around the Portland State campus today with my two pairs of socks, scarf, gloves, long sleeve shirt and jacket, I still felt cold. On top of my obvious measures to stay warm, I'm also fairly obvious about my preferences when it comes to weather; I feel bad for my friend who had to listen to my lack-of partiality to the cold. However, on my way home from school, once I had some time to myself, I started to think about what it would be like to have to sleep in this weather, to not have a nice, warm home to come to where I can take a bath to warm up my feet; my mind then flooded with the many lumps I've seen on the streets of Portland throughout my many visits there. And those lumps are people. People who get cold just like I do. My complaining quickly seemed foolish and I couldn't help but feel a little sad. Why are those people under those ragged sleeping bags there? I know that many of them are likely there as a direct result from poor choices, but that can't be the case with all of them. And even if those people are sleeping on a sidewalk because of poor choices, it makes me sad that they allowed those poor choices to control their lives to that extent, where another drink, another smoke becomes more appealing than a warm room with a fridge. Wherever those hidden faces under the sleeping bags are, no matter the reason for having a concrete as a bed, I hope they are able to find warmth.

Another aspect about the whole homelessness ordeal is that many of those people wandering the streets are extremely talented. I'm almost awed by how those people asking for money seem to be able to talk to anyone. From my perspective, they seem to not care what people think, to not be intimidated by people that "normal" people would be intimidated by. I'm convinced that many of those homeless people could make better salesmen than those guys who went to college for it--if only those talents and abilities were directed in a better way.

There's something that just seems so carefree about being on the streets that I sometimes envy if I don't really think about it. No worrying about bills. No worrying about what people think. No worrying about cleaning a house. No worrying about being stressed out about a job. No worrying about going to school. The homeless life just seems so simple and I feel like it's so easy for me to get caught up in the most trivial of things.

However, in spite of all the worries that come with not being homeless, it's worth it. Yes, I may have to worry about bills. Yes, I may be concerned about what people think to a certain extent. Yes, I may worry about having a clean house. Yes, I may have a job that may stress me out once in awhile. Yes, I may spend time going to college and doing homework. But all of those "negative" things also have an outweighing positive side, and at least I don't have to have the two big worries of being hungry and staying warm.

Once I met a homeless man that I really respected, and still respect. It was my birthday, so I decided to go to Portland with some friends and we ended up at Voo Doo Donuts. It's a fairly popular place, so it wasn't too big of a surprise that there was a line that extended past the door of the shop and, while my friends and I were waiting in line, a homeless man with a stack of newspapers came up to us. He explained that he's selling newspapers for a foundation that informs people about homelessness and that he was, in fact, homeless; he continued to educate us on how each newspaper costs $1.00 and that he receive $0.75 of that $1.00, with the $0.25 going to the foundation that prints it. I only had larger bills, so I told him that, once I bought my donut, I would love to come purchase a newspaper from him, which I did. The thing that amazes me the most is that he wasn't just sitting on the side of the street with a sign asking for money; but rather, he was doing what he could to work, even if he got very little money for it. What a great guy. You can meet all sorts of amazing people when you keep your eyes open.