If you've watched "The Pursuit of Happyness," starring Will Smith and his son, Jaden, then you've seen San Francisco's Tenderloin district. The film, in which Smith portrays a homeless man doubling as an intern with a stock brokerage firm, is based on a true story. It tugs at the heartstrings and serves as a classic example of that old American adage that we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps if we just try hard enough.

Perhaps that is true for some individuals like Chris Gardner, the protagonist of the film, who became a household name on Wall Street after spending nights in the city's homeless shelters. The movie does anything but make Gardner's route to success look easy, to its credit. But the sad reality is that some people will never be able to break the cycle in the way that Gardner did.

In fact, I just returned from a trip that took me to Los Angeles and San Francisco, cities that rank second and sixth, respectively, in the number of homeless individuals. I have been to New York seven times, and yet what I saw in these cities broke my heart in a new way.

That might be because California, the state with the largest homeless population in America, also has the largest percentage (66.4 percent) of those individuals living unsheltered as of 2016 (out of 118,142 homeless individuals, 78,390 were unsheltered). It is this lack of shelter that is the main difference between California and New York; While the state of New York has the second largest homeless population in the country, it has the fifth lowest rate of unsheltered homeless individuals (only 4.2 percent, or 3,591 out of 86,352 homeless individuals).

The question of why that may be is likely a complex one, presumably wrapped in a swath of issues such as exorbitant housing costs and institutionalized racism, among others. But there was one issue that stuck out to me above all the rest, one that we can and must do something about if we are to help fix the "homelessness problem." One of the clearest barriers to solutions appeared to be, simply put, an attitude problem.

I do not mean that homeless individuals have an attitude problem, however; It is the attitude of those who actually do have shelter towards those who don't that is incredibly concerning.

Time and time again in California, I heard locals present the situation as if the homeless individuals themselves were the problem, rather than the fact that these people were literally forced to sleep on the streets. They seemed to think of them at best as a nuisance, and at worst as a waste of resources. One of my tour guides in San Francisco laughed disdainfully at the fact that some homeless individuals had used the bathroom in a fountain, forcing the city to shut it off. What he failed to mention is that almost every restroom on the ground level in the city seems to require a key or a code to get in, precisely because businesses don't want homeless individuals who can't give business to use their restrooms.

Presumably, they make that choice as a business decision because they know that to have homeless individuals around is to drive business away. They are probably right; for whatever reason, a large chunk of society appears to harbor a similar disgust for homeless individuals, possibly fueled by physical distaste at a perceived lack of hygiene or some sort of "moral" outrage at what they see as a lack of effort in life.

California isn't the only place at fault for such a mentality, though. In fact, even 30 minutes from my hometown, in Clarksburg, West Virginia, a sign hangs adjacent to the Clarksburg Mission (a fantastic organization) that all but blames the Mission for economic stagnancy on that side of town.

Again, they might be right. It's possible, maybe even probable, that our society has an aversion to homeless individuals that could hinder the economy.

But that kind of seems like an "us" problem, doesn't it?

What a disturbing cycle it is that we who are privileged with shelter turn our noses at those without because we feel they will hurt our chances to become even more privileged. We are talking about people who do not have a residence, and in a state like California, who disproportionately live without a roof over their heads, exposed to the heat and cold (and trust me, it gets cold in San Francisco).

I'm not necessarily calling ordinary people to stop and give money on the street to every homeless person they see. This is a complex issue that won't be solved by just giving money; from what little I have seen and can deduce, it seems that trauma and sometimes addiction play a large role in homelessness, as people who are hurting and desperate turn towards the only thing they feel they have left to give them comfort. Mental health also appeared to be part of the problem and mental health care is often expensive even for those who can afford shelter.

But what I am calling on us to do is to change the way we look at homeless individuals–to change our thoughts of disgust, of disdain, and of distrust. We need to change the thoughts that cause us, myself included sometimes, to avert our eyes or cross the street when we see a homeless individual. These thoughts cause us to stay away from places where the homeless find refuge. These are the thoughts that keep us from treating homeless individuals like the normal human beings that they are, people worthy of friendship, love, and care–people with layered, rich stories that have strengths and weaknesses, triumphs and failures, just as the rest of us do. Somehow, we came to view these people as the problem, rather than the problem that they are without a place to live.

When we finally do work to help find a solution to this issue, we cannot feel as though we are saviors, because we aren't. We bring no dignity to these people, because they already have it by virtue of being living, breathing human beings created by God. We are only doing what should be done, helping individuals who have faced tremendous obstacles in life, much in the same way that we might want help had we lived through similar circumstances.

It is time to stop treating people as lesser than us because of their circumstance. It is time to start caring about the problems that face people "less fortunate" than us. It is time to open our hearts and see beyond physical and economic differences.

It is time for us to stop dehumanizing the homeless.