by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
The holidays are in full swing, a time when many of us are wrapped in the security and warmth of our families as we make merry and reflect on our blessings. But this is also a time when another America, one that is invisible to most of us, struggles to stay warm, find sustenance and a safe place to sleep, and to survive for another day.
The Guardian newspaper has been running an investigative series entitled "Outside in America" which is examining the escalating problem of homelessness in the United States. It is a problem that has been with us since colonial times, but has been exacerbated in recent years as many communities go from treating the homeless with kindness and Christian charity to criminalizing the survival strategies that have long been employed by homeless individuals to enable their basic existence.
Being homeless in America truly is a case of "There but for the grace of God go I," because it is a circumstance that can find us all. Today's waves of homeless individuals include those who lost their footing in society due to addictions, financial catastrophes, and plain old rotten luck. America's homeless population includes people who fell through the unraveling social safety net - like the mentally ill who were dumped out of institutional care and onto the streets - and veterans who returned home from serving their country to find that their country was unable and unwilling to address the problems that they brought home from war.
America also has a large contingent of LGBTQ youth who were forced out of their families - or chose to leave - because of pressures from parents and other family members who could not accept these kids based on their sexual orientation.
Today cities and other communities are making it illegal to panhandle, sleep in doorways or on public beaches or over subway grates, construct temporary housing like tents or cardboard hovels, or "loiter" in certain areas. Government, which was once focused on solutions, is now becoming a central part of the problem.
Christmas is a good time to think about this other America, the one that is living hand-to-mouth and sleeping in cars or huddled beneath overpasses . We all need to support political candidates who speak and work for all people, not just those with means, and we need to give to charities that really do give back to those in need. And it would be a far more just world if our churches developed and sustained missions which actually promote the Golden Rule.
The homeless are not strangers among us, they are reflections of ourselves mired in unfortunate circumstances - and we define ourselves by how we react to them.
Keep Christ in Christmas by caring and sharing.
Citizen Journalist
The holidays are in full swing, a time when many of us are wrapped in the security and warmth of our families as we make merry and reflect on our blessings. But this is also a time when another America, one that is invisible to most of us, struggles to stay warm, find sustenance and a safe place to sleep, and to survive for another day.
The Guardian newspaper has been running an investigative series entitled "Outside in America" which is examining the escalating problem of homelessness in the United States. It is a problem that has been with us since colonial times, but has been exacerbated in recent years as many communities go from treating the homeless with kindness and Christian charity to criminalizing the survival strategies that have long been employed by homeless individuals to enable their basic existence.
Being homeless in America truly is a case of "There but for the grace of God go I," because it is a circumstance that can find us all. Today's waves of homeless individuals include those who lost their footing in society due to addictions, financial catastrophes, and plain old rotten luck. America's homeless population includes people who fell through the unraveling social safety net - like the mentally ill who were dumped out of institutional care and onto the streets - and veterans who returned home from serving their country to find that their country was unable and unwilling to address the problems that they brought home from war.
America also has a large contingent of LGBTQ youth who were forced out of their families - or chose to leave - because of pressures from parents and other family members who could not accept these kids based on their sexual orientation.
Today cities and other communities are making it illegal to panhandle, sleep in doorways or on public beaches or over subway grates, construct temporary housing like tents or cardboard hovels, or "loiter" in certain areas. Government, which was once focused on solutions, is now becoming a central part of the problem.
Christmas is a good time to think about this other America, the one that is living hand-to-mouth and sleeping in cars or huddled beneath overpasses . We all need to support political candidates who speak and work for all people, not just those with means, and we need to give to charities that really do give back to those in need. And it would be a far more just world if our churches developed and sustained missions which actually promote the Golden Rule.
The homeless are not strangers among us, they are reflections of ourselves mired in unfortunate circumstances - and we define ourselves by how we react to them.
Keep Christ in Christmas by caring and sharing.
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