The stereotypes of the homeless person.

The stereotypes of the homeless person.

At work yesterday, I overheard a few coworkers talking about helping homeless people and how they need to learn to help themselves. I tried to explain my experience when I was homeless in the beginning of my young life, but was completely cut out of the conversation. This often happens when certain conversation come up at work. Usually I ignore the ignorance, but this time I stayed silent and listen to what my coworkers had to say.

“I would rather be in prison than homeless,’’ said one coworker. “In prison, at least you get three meals a day and that’s why most people in prison never want to leave,’’ said another coworker. I sat in the background taking this conversation in and really thinking about what people around me really thought of homelessness.

Later, that day I was working in another part of my job, I was thinking out loud and talking to another coworker about the topic. I told her I wanted to write a blog about a conversation I heard about what people thought of the homeless.

“When I think of homelessness I think of three things. I think of someone on drugs, someone drunk and dirty old men. These are probably people who are con artist anyway making more money than I do an entire month. “the coworker said. I listened to her words intensely and wasn’t shocked at the reaction. What I didn’t hear from anyone I talk to was circumstance. There was more fear at what they didn’t understand. I couldn’t get anyone to listen to the little experience I had rather than their lack of understanding.

Is the world a dangerous place full of people wanting to hurt us if we don’t watch out? Absolutely, but there is much more than people on drugs, drunks or con artist out there.

When I was 19 years old, I was forced to leave my childhood home and figure out life on my own. I had no real life or street experience before this time. I was homeless and I may not be able to speak about other’s experiences, but I had a job making minimum wage and nobody was helping me.

The people that were my friends, family members and strangers all promised to help me, but when the time came I was alone. I begged for a roof over my head by many,but nobody wanted to deal with me and when I did get help in was in dark places. I was better off than most because I had a job, but when a person doesn’t have an address it’s easy to be forgotten and get into trouble. It easier to lose faith than survive and when one is in the streets it’s not hard to get into trouble.

I have never been to prison, but I would rather be on the streets. On the streets one is free and in prison you become a number forever labeled and trapped by the system. I never wanted to be the stereotype so I did whatever I needed to do to survive (not prostitution on anything like that). The hope of on day going to college and bettering myself kept me alive on the nights I thought about suicide.

I may have not been homeless long what I saw in people’s heart’s when you’re nothing but trash to the world is dark. Even when you’re on someone’s couch at their mercy they remind you that your garbage. I was lucky to have found friends that cared enough to help of my step father’s house, but this time sticks with me. I may be but one story of a young girl’s struggle, but the point is I’m a story, a face to the stereotype.

Is what my coworkers say true about homeless people? When I think of the homeless, I try take the word people and turn it into and individual story. The single mother that lost their paycheck to paycheck job, the disabled veteran abandon by his country or the young man who would rather be in the streets than at home watching his father beat his mother. These are real stories and faces to the stereotypes we make when we use the term ‘people,’ but the reality is this could be any of us, friends or family. All it takes is circumstance.