After reading over John Scalzi’s list of what it means to be poor, I spent some time thinking what it means to be homeless.
Here are just a few off the top of my head. I could do this all day, and the longer I do it, the angrier I get at a society as rich as ours that could let this happen.
Unless Jesus was kidding about that Sheep and Goats thing, the church is going to have some serious explaining to do.
Being Homeless
Being homeless means wearing clothes you did not pick out.
Being homeless means eating what they give you.
Being homeless means having to hear a sermon before you can eat.
Being homeless means being asked for your ID by the police for being in the park.
Being homeless means hiding everything you own so no one will throw them away.
Being homeless means spending most of your day with addicts and the mentally ill, even if you yourself are not.
Being homeless means people are surprised you have an opinion on the presidential election.
Being homeless means walking several miles to eat.
Being homeless means you hope the crazy street preachers show up because it is Saturday and the soup kitchens are closed.
Being homeless means eating meals in a soup kitchen no person would ever order in a restaraunt.
Being homeless means chicken hot dogs.
Being homeless means hearing people tell you you should be thankful for what you get (like chicken hot dogs).
Being homeless means rich church folks giving you second hand underwear.
Being homeless means standing in line for everything.
Being homeless means paying 25 cents to pee.
Being homeless means crying when it rains, because you know everything you own is ruined.
Being homeless means having to choose between staying in the shelter tonight or going to work today.
Being homeless means going to the day labor place at 3am and signing in so you can work that day and make $47.
Being homeless means paying $5 to cash that $47 check.
Being homeless means you are supposed to be thankful the county will let six of you take a shower each week. During the day. When you could be looking for a job.
Being homeless means being called ungrateful when you ask why only six, when there are 2000 homeless in the county.
Being homeless means wondering how you are supposed to get a job when you cannot take a shower.
Being homeless means being thankful when the temprature drops below 32 degrees, because it means you are allowed in the shelter that night.
Being homeless means trying not to ask yourself is there is really a difference between sleeping outside when it is 32 degrees and when it is 35 degrees.
Being homeless means people will judge you for smoking cigarettes.
Being homeless means being afriad to tell anyone where you sleep.
Being homeless means talking to your children on a borrowed phone.
Being homeless means being afraid to hope anymore.
For the record, being poor sucks.
No one has ever captured it as well for me as John Scalzi, a writer of some note. Scalzi wrote this in the immediate aftermath of Huricane Katrina, when there was a lot of folks dissing the poor for not leaving New Orleans in advance of the storm.
Being Poor
Being poor is knowing exactly how much everything costs.
Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV.
Being poor is having to keep buying $800 cars because they’re what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there’s not an $800 car in America that’s worth a damn.
Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.
Being poor is knowing your kid goes to friends’ houses but never has friends over to yours.
Being poor is going to the restroom before you get in the school lunch line so your friends will be ahead of you and won’t hear you say “I get free lunch” when you get to the cashier.
Being poor is living next to the freeway.
Being poor is coming back to the car with your children in the back seat, clutching that box of Raisin Bran you just bought and trying to think of a way to make the kids understand that the box has to last.
Being poor is wondering if your well-off sibling is lying when he says he doesn’t mind when you ask for help.
Being poor is off-brand toys.
Being poor is a heater in only one room of the house.
Being poor is knowing you can’t leave $5 on the coffee table when your friends are around.
Being poor is hoping your kids don’t have a growth spurt.
Being poor is stealing meat from the store, frying it up before your mom gets home and then telling her she doesn’t have make dinner tonight because you’re not hungry anyway.
Being poor is Goodwill underwear.
Being poor is not enough space for everyone who lives with you.
Being poor is feeling the glued soles tear off your supermarket shoes when you run around the playground.
Being poor is your kid’s school being the one with the 15-year-old textbooks and no air conditioning.
Being poor is thinking $8 an hour is a really good deal.
Being poor is relying on people who don’t give a damn about you.
Being poor is an overnight shift under florescent lights.
Being poor is finding the letter your mom wrote to your dad, begging him for the child support.
Being poor is a bathtub you have to empty into the toilet.
Being poor is stopping the car to take a lamp from a stranger’s trash.
Being poor is making lunch for your kid when a cockroach skitters over the bread, and you looking over to see if your kid saw.
Being poor is believing a GED actually makes a goddamned difference.
Being poor is people angry at you just for walking around in the mall.
Being poor is not taking the job because you can’t find someone you trust to watch your kids.
Being poor is the police busting into the apartment right next to yours.
Being poor is not talking to that girl because she’ll probably just laugh at your clothes.
Being poor is hoping you’ll be invited for dinner.
Being poor is a sidewalk with lots of brown glass on it.
Being poor is people thinking they know something about you by the way you talk.
Being poor is needing that 35-cent raise.
Being poor is your kid’s teacher assuming you don’t have any books in your home.
Being poor is six dollars short on the utility bill and no way to close the gap.
Being poor is crying when you drop the mac and cheese on the floor.
Being poor is knowing you work as hard as anyone, anywhere.
Being poor is people surprised to discover you’re not actually stupid.
Being poor is people surprised to discover you’re not actually lazy.
Being poor is a six-hour wait in an emergency room with a sick child asleep on your lap.
Being poor is never buying anything someone else hasn’t bought first.
Being poor is picking the 10 cent ramen instead of the 12 cent ramen because that’s two extra packages for every dollar.
Being poor is having to live with choices you didn’t know you made when you were 14 years old.
Being poor is getting tired of people wanting you to be grateful.
Being poor is knowing you’re being judged.
Being poor is a box of crayons and a $1 coloring book from a community center Santa.
Being poor is checking the coin return slot of every soda machine you go by.
Being poor is deciding that it’s all right to base a relationship on shelter.
Being poor is knowing you really shouldn’t spend that buck on a Lotto ticket.
Being poor is hoping the register lady will spot you the dime.
Being poor is feeling helpless when your child makes the same mistakes you did, and won’t listen to you beg them against doing so.
Being poor is a cough that doesn’t go away.
Being poor is making sure you don’t spill on the couch, just in case you have to give it back before the lease is up.
Being poor is a $200 paycheck advance from a company that takes $250 when the paycheck comes in.
Being poor is four years of night classes for an Associates of Art degree.
Being poor is a lumpy futon bed.
Being poor is knowing where the shelter is.
Being poor is people who have never been poor wondering why you choose to be so.
Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor.
Being poor is seeing how few options you have.
Being poor is running in place.
Being poor is people wondering why you didn’t leave.
Go read the original, especially the comments. It is eye opening.
