I USED TO BE HOMELESS
32 | May• 2019
respectsthatisn’twrongandthere
aremany homelesspeople who
strugglewithexactlythoseissues.
Butthe truthisthateveryone
makesbaddecisionssometimesand
whetherornotyourbaddecisions
endinhomelessnesshasa lottodo
withprivilegeandluck.
Everyoneisvulnerablebutfor
thegraceofGod.Anddon’tforget
thechildren,whoaredefinitelynot
homeless through any fault of their
own.
Notallhomeless
peopleareunemployed
Thankstothehighcostoflivingand
lowwages,it’spossibleforsomeone
tohavea jobyetnotbeabletoafford
a house.
Atthispoint,though,youmightbe
wonderingwhyI endeduphomeless
forsolong,evenwithanemployable
degree.Thereisn’ta simpleanswerto
that,butthejobmarketwasverytight
whenI graduatedandI wasover-qual-
ifiedformostminimumwagejobs.
AndI didstrugglewithdrugandal-
coholaddiction.I gotsoberin1991,
butstillexperienced stints of home-
lessness.
Somepeopleare
homelessbychoice
Thevastmajorityofhomelesspeo-
pleareinthat situationbecause
theyhadnootherchoice,butthere
area fewwhowouldrathernotbe
tieddowntoanything.Myfather
andstepmotherkickedmeoutof
thehousewhenI wasyoungerand
atthattimeI decidedI preferred
cloudsthana plasterceilingformy
roof.Plus,I amveryreligiousand
Jesuswashomeless,soI figuredif
itwasgoodenoughforHim,itwas
goodenoughforme.Thatwasn’t
alwaysthecaseformebutthere
weretimesI preferredmyfreedom.Homelesspeopleare
notgoingtokillyou
Holly woodandTVshowsgivethe
homelessabadrap,makingthem
looklikemurderersandrapists,but
themajorityaresimplytryingtofind
foodandshelter– justlikeyou.You
don’tneedtobeafraidoftheaver-
agehomelessperson,you’refarmore
likelytobehurtbysomeoneyou
know.Infact,a homelesspersonis
morelikelytobekilledbya ‘normal’
person than the other way around.“AHOMELESSPERSONIS MORELIKELY
TOBEKILLEDBYA ‘NORMAL’PERSON
THAN THE OTHER WAY AROUND”