Wait! Hear me out! I know what you are all thinking. "I was always taught not to talk to those people as a kid". (I'm guilty of this too) however, this doesn't mean you have to talk to them or really even give anything.
Homeless people just want to be understood and want people to know to know they don't all have the same background. Yes, some of them have gotten themselves in these situations but the majority are trying to get out of a bad home-life situation and have no one to turn to. Imagine being that person needing some help and having multiple people drive or walk by you not giving a care in the world. Pretty depressing isn't it?
The majority of homeless people are actually very nice people just trying to get back on their feet. Can you imagine having nobody care as you sleep on the cold dirty concrete at night?
You would be shocked to know that a lot of homeless people are actually veterans that had nowhere to go when they came home from serving. In 2015, the National Alliance to End Homelessness said that for every 10,000 people 17.7 are homeless, which is a scary statistic because if you do the math that means that around 600 Americans are homeless.
Some big stereotypes that are often put around homeless people are that they are different from you because that could "never" happen to you. They chose to be homeless, which is kind of like saying someone chooses to be bullied; it doesn't work that way. They're all criminals, as I said earlier the majority of them are trying to escape a certain situation. Last but not least, homeless people are lazy.
I can not begin to express how false I think these stereotypes are and it honestly makes me sad to think humans jump to these conclusions before talking to the person.
At the end of the day, homeless people are still people and deserve as much respect as you and I deserve.
It is important that as Americans we fight together to help these 600 people and defeat homelessness.
It starts with one.
I realize not everyone can give anything to help them but it helps to spread the message so people are aware of the issue!
We are all one nation and we can do this!
