Breaking the cycle

I have a lot on my mind.

The store I work at is right off the freeway, so we have a few homeless people that are regular visitors. A couple of guys came in today that are homeless and seem to be around my age or maybe younger. They looked pretty fresh--like they hadn't been homeless long. When I got off my shift I quizzed them about their situation. I asked if they had found a shelter or anywhere to sleep at night, and Alex, the one that appeared younger of the two, said he'd done some checking around but everywhere he had found was full, or if they did have openings, he felt he would be safer on the street. He said, "I've got enough issues without having to worry about getting choked in my sleep." I'm hoping to get to know more about these guys in the next few days, and am going to find some way to help them. They didn't ask me to, and the one time I gave them a sympathetic look, they were like, "Liiiz, we'll be okay". They most definitely don't want my pitty, but they didn't reject the notion that I do a little research and see what resources are around to help. So, if you know of any safer places than the street to stay in Southern California, give me a call.

I'm not exactly sure where to start in helping, because I don't know the agencies around here. I emailed my pastor, so hopefully he will know. I know enough about homelessness to know that education is the key to breaking the cycle. This means education of not only the homeless, but of everyone who has a place to stay and doesn't understand what it's like not to. It's almost impossible to get a job or go to school without somewhere to land when it's over. It's not easy to make it in California. The job I have now pays minimum wage, and I have a college degree. I can barely make ends meet financially and I live in one of the cheapest places around.I was lucky here because I had friends who let me stay with them while I found my job and looked for a place. So how is someone who does not have a degree and who does not have a place to stay for whatever reason get all this shit worked out? If I didn't have a job and couldn't support myself, I could find 300+
people that would take me in. I can't imagine not having friends that would let me crash with them, and I think that shows the level of desperation of people on the street. How does a person end up with no friends? Over and over again, I realize how crazy blessed I am.

So then there is a whole myriad of issues that follow ,and I could spend all night creating a cause and effect map of homelessness and how it happens and what it leads to and this would get messy because people aren't the same, and not everyone has the same story or the same situation. Maybe this crazy map would actually help in some way, but I won't put that in this blog. I realize all of my thoughts are scattered while writing this. Probably because of my past studies, this makes me think about drugs. If I were these guys today, I would start selling drugs. Maybe not yet, but soon.I might have to be a bit more desperate, but it's way cleaner and safer than prostitution, and maybe at least then I could find somewhere to live, or at least get a hotel occasionally.

Yeah. I would totally mule drugs.

What would you do? How would you survive? Would you take your chances in a shelter, or stay on the street? How would you make money? One of the guys today told me he wants a guitar, because he thinks he could make some money playing songs. If anyone has a guitar lying around that they want to donate, let me know. I want to see these guys get on their feet while they are still looking fresh , and before society turns their head on them entirely. There is potential exploding out of these guys. They are funny and jovial, and haven't been beaten down just yet.

Anyway, this is just what I'm thinking about tonight. I'm thinking about how to go about solving this problem small scale and on a much larger scale. We obviously need a new system for helping the homeless. I know it's kind of a depressing topic, but I'm really curious what you would do in their situation. Maybe through this we can generate some ideas that will lead us to something greater. I'm so overwhelmed. These are the things that keep me up at night.

LH