Home Less

Since having a baby, I have been at home more than the prior part of my life. While I am home more, some people are Home-Less. These words combined often hold a negative connotation for many people. Our society tends to shun the homeless, to treat them as outcasts, to shew them away, to try to remove them, or to put them out of our minds and view. To be homeless means that you have no permanent place to lay your head, rest, eat, or live at peace in your own created space that you have paid to stay in for any extended period of time... as the Jesus of Biblical stories was for most of his life. Some people choose to be homeless, wanderers, nomads, gypsies, traveling musicians or artists for many reasons. Sometimes for the freedom of moving and constant change, or because they desire to be less attached to the material, physical trappings that we so heartily cling to in our capitalistic society; or to become one with nature/ the natural environment without all of the man-made surroundings we are used to; or they just place value on a different "kind" of home- as gypsies travel in groups/communities/families- the people become your home. As I have learned over the years, people make a place home, not necessarily just the 4 walls of a house. House and Home are different.

I have never been homeless, but traveling/couch-surfing in Europe for 2 months was the closest I have ever felt to it. Not knowing where or who you'll be staying with each night in a foreign country could be scary for some, but it was fun and adventurous to me, by choice, yet if I had no choice, I'd be sad. The other night, on Christmas, I was walking downtown with my family and saw 2 men lying in sleeping bags, on top of tarp and newspaper in front of Santa Cruz Bookshop. I cried as I said to Devo, "With all of the wealth in our world, it should never have to be like this." There is enough money on this earth for every person to have a warm home, yet so many go without homes, food, clothing, beds, and shoes. The few hold onto the wealth and the many suffer in poverty. I consider myself wealthy to have a home and 3 meals every day, with a closet full of shoes and clothes. I have never gone without, and I have been blessed with an abundance my entire life. But that night, I felt the pain, the hopelessness that the homeless must feel. I imagined myself laying in the sleeping bag, cold with one eye open, hoping no one would steal my shoes or hurt me while I slept. Here in Santa Cruz, there are many homeless people, as the temperatures are mild all year, and an incredible program to help them, shelters and an 85% success rate at getting people off the streets and back into the working world. I have been researching the programs and how they help these people who often have substance abuse issues, but are able to work through them to become whole again. It is possible to help the homeless, and here the charity programs ask that we stop giving to panhandlers as it just re-iterates the problem, but instead donate to charities who will properly disperse the goods to truly be used wisely and effectively. I am hoping to volunteer a lot at the shelter this coming year as there are so many opportunities to help out. And when I see the homeless men, women and children, I speak to them, I smile at them, I remember that I could become one of them any day. They are just people like you and me, who had misfortune, abuse, a bad past, illness, or some poor choices along the way; but who, like any of us, just needs another chance on a new day.