6 Harsh Truths I Learned From Homeless People
“On the streets, you don’t wish for things. You just wait for them to happen because you can’t control really anything.”
If you have a place to live, you are more fortunate than millions of homeless people on the streets. I am so deeply empathetic for those people out there struggling every day to survive. Society is not equal. Nobody wants to sleep on the streets. Things happen for a reason.
After watching many interviews with homeless people across the world, I was so sad. Deep down in my soul, I wish I could help them get out of it. One thing I found was that despite having nothing, they had beautiful hearts with the desire to live a normal life.
When life gets hard, remember that the life you complain about is only a dream to somebody
Many of them used to work as accountants, engineers, government officers, or even multi-millionaires. My heart broke as I watched many young kids out there who had been homeless most of their lives. They just wished to have a family. They just wanted to go to school like other kids.
These homeless people taught me precious things that I want to share with you
1. It’s Hard To Be A Part Of Society Again
The hardest part is getting out of prison and to become a part of society again. Nobody wants to hire and provide a room for them because they won’t accept felons. Don’t think that they are lazy just begging for food or money. They have integrity and hold their heads high to survive. How can they work if nobody gives them a chance? They go into the vicious cycle, ending up on the streets with no escape. The only way to live through this depends on mercy. They feel like being at the bottom rung of the social ladder. They live miserable lives that are full of slur and shame.
2. Money Can Go Away Anytime
We are all so close to homelessness. Nobody is immune. Stay humble.
One of the interviews I watched was a homeless man in Oakland who used to work for the Department of Defense and own a multi-million business. After retiring at 47, he got a house in Oakland and another one in North Carolina. He also purchased three boats. That sounded like a perfect retiring plan, right? However, after losing millions of dollars in the Great Recession in 2008, his life then snowballed and lived in a tent in Oakland, California. During the interview, he was trying to hide the deep sadness by smiling.
If you are over-leveraged and something like the crisis makes you owe that money. The bank will take everything until you are completely broke and end up living on the streets. When times are good, people don’t think about the risks they have if things go wrong.
Just because someone has a massive house, owns boats, lives in a wealthy area, and has nice cars doesn’t mean they are rich. Having millions of dollars in credit and savings are totally different.
8 out of 10 households in the US are living paycheck to paycheck, we are all close to this man’s reality.
3. Humans Are Brutal, Indifferent, and Unsympathetic
“When I lost everything after divorce, all of my friends except one disappeared. Something I never forgot. When you are at absolute rock bottom, you will know who are your true friends”-said a homeless man
Most people, all they care about are themselves. Even when you are bleeding on the side of the road and they won’t help you. Sleep deprivation is common among homeless people. A night of good sleep is rare.
The challenges of living on the streets are the same anywhere in the world. People don’t just walk by, they spit on you and curse you. People with good intentions give an overabundance of food yet refuse to help with money or other basic needs.
“When I was homeless, people peed on me. Somebody lit my sleeping bag on fire in the middle of the night. When I was sleeping, they dumped food on me. I’ve been cussed out, had stuff thrown at me from car windows”.
People do horrible things to you when you’re homeless.
Homeless people aren’t doing anything bad. Many of them have never used drugs. They are just outside on the streets. People will constantly say the same thing like get a job, stop using drugs, you’re a junkie, you’re a bum, you’re worthless.
They are human beings, they are just struggling to survive.
4. Survival Mode Must Be Turned On Constantly
Living on the streets is horrible and everyone wants to escape from reality. Not every single homeless person uses drugs, but it’s the only way to escape from the harsh reality. When I looked at their faces, I could feel the pain they were suffering. This was the look of exhaustion, hungry, constantly moving, being alert all the time, that wasn’t drugs. They weren’t high, that was the look of miserable lives.
“Skid Row hurted me in the ways I couldn’t even explain. It made me do things and made see things I wish I would have never seen.”
Luke's story of living in Los Angeles’s Skid Row is painful and heartbreaking. No one should have to live like this. No one had to fight just to survive for food and shelter and live in constant fear. Luke has been beaten 13 times since living homeless in Skid Row
For those of you that are going to judge Luke for being on drugs, you need to understand that people use drugs to escape pain. It’s nearly impossible to stay sober while homeless and if you’re stuck in a place like Skid Row, drugs become a way to cope with life.
5. Family Issue Is The Key Factor Causing Homelessness
One common thing I found among those homeless people is that they all have family issues. A young homeless boy in London had a father who was alcoholic and abusive. He didn’t feel safe at home, so he ended up sleeping on the streets. Another young boy in LA lost his parents in a car crash and was homeless since he was 5 years old.
One tragic story I heard was about a 50-year-old man named Michael in Traverse, MI. Michael’s fiancée passed away, so he couldn’t stay in the house any longer. Micheal’s older son was killed a few months ago by an improvised explosive device (IED) while serving our country.
Then a few days later, his brother was murdered. Even worse, Michael was recently diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He said that cancer has already spread from his pancreas to the right side. He had a year to live. Although Michael has suffered from tragedies, he claimed to be happy.
6. Live Every Single Day With A Grateful Heart
The public needs to understand that homeless people aren’t homeless by choice. If you look into their lives, you’ll often find layers of trauma.
I am blessed that I have a place to live, food to eat every single day. I have a laptop, Ipad, Airpods, cologne, brand name clothes. There is no complaint in my life. I wish I could be rich one day to make the world a better place that nobody has to sleep on the streets, under the bridges, or on the benches in the parks.
Jim Carrey has a quote that says, “I wish everybody could become rich and famous, so they could learn that it doesn’t bring happiness”. I would go the opposite and say that I wish everyone could experience homelessness and we’d be more humble, kind, and courteous.
“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” -Mother Teresa