What's it like?

What’s it like?
“The homeless have it easy.” Stated with the certainty of someone who doesn’t know.
“You have no idea what you’re saying, my friend. I bet you couldn’t go…” The challenge was on.

I watched a youtube video this past week, filmed by a university student who took the challenge to live on the streets, homeless, for 30 days. He had virtually nothing with him for his odyssey, but a backpack and a camera.

The first days were easy for him. He found a decent shelter, was provided a change of clothing, food. I happen to know he would have been given the opportunity to build a plan to become housed. But then he moved on.

He found himself at the kind of shelter that provided a place to crash among many other homeless men, many of whom were ill. He described the smell, the hacking coughs, the restless nights. After several nights, he became quite ill himself, and was advised by the doctor not to return to the shelter, he would become more ill. He made himself a bed in a back alley, truly sleeping on the streets.

He got to know people. He got to experience the grit.
He even chose to try drugs, against the advice of the people who live on the streets. “Don’t try it!” But he found others who would let him do what it was he wanted to do.

When the experience turned really bad, he went home to the great downtown condo that was just waiting for him, several days before his avowed 30 day experience was complete. He slept for hours, and took some time to get healthy.

Did he really experience life on the street? To some degree, yes. He found the friendship and camaraderie among those who share the common trauma of having nothing. He experienced the work of staying alive. He witnessed the downside. He experienced discomfort.

But his experience would have been different from real life on the streets.
For him, this was an adventure, an experiment with an easy “out”. He always had a place to retreat to. He had friends to check on him, and, while he made friends, his life didn’t depend on his street friends. His decision making was coherent, and based on building a full experience – it was not influenced by addiction, or physical or mental illness. He didn’t accept the help to get off the streets, because his agenda was quite different.

Making a difference in the lives of people living on the streets doesn’t happen when you temporarily store your stuff, sleep rough, and get sick along with everyone else. Making a difference happens when the healthy extend a hand of friendship, and help those on the street to get their lives back.

(Note: Volunteer with Agencies or Organizations who are providing services.)