We’ve all done it … walked by the homeless person like they aren’t even there. Perhaps some may even go as far as to walk on the other side of the sidewalk and to look the other way as they pass by. And you know what, I understand it. It’s easy to dismiss homeless people as drug addicts or lazy unmotivated people. That may very well be the case for some, but perhaps the reasons for their current predicaments are a bit more complex then that.
When I first moved to the DC area, there was a concert that I really wanted to go to. None of my friends were interested, so I took the metro on a Thursday night down to what was then The Nation (which is now the Nationals stadium) in southwest DC to see Slick Rick, Raekwon and scratch DJs perform. It was a great show but it had an extremely late start. It was already almost 12 AM when Slick Rick got on stage. It was then when I remembered that the DC metro closes at midnight on weeknights. I had a good 15 minutes though and I thought I was fine. To my surprise, that particular metro closed at 11:45. I had arrived at 11:50 and just missed the last train.
To make a long story short I ended up getting stranded in DC for the night. I made my way down to Union Station and ended up talking with a homeless man. He didn’t ask for money, he really just wanted conversation. We spoke for a good hour or so about life and how he came upon his unfortunate circumstances. He wasn’t always homeless. He used to have a job, family, and a roof over head but had a streak of bad luck which has put him on and off the streets.
As I spent time with him, I began to see things. We walked down to the greyhound station because I wanted to buy him something to eat. He was hesitant to sit down at the table, but I told him to wait there while I went to get his sandwich. When I came back, he was getting hassled by a security guard saying he needed to move on. I then told the officer that the guy was with me. The mans face was plastered with embarrassment and I felt bad for putting him in that situation. I never would imagine being harassed by just sitting down in a public place but that is the reality of his existence.
By the time we parted our ways it was already about 2:30 in the morning and there was no way I was getting home for I lived well over an hour away from the city — far from the reach of the DC cab service. At that hour I did not want to be randomly roaming the streets. I needed to find a place to sit and wait for the metros to open. On First street, there were a congregation of homeless gentlemen who were attempting to find comfort and some shut-eye on some concrete steps. I figured there was strength in numbers and I joined them. And you know, I’m not sure how they were able to do it but it was unsurprisingly very uncomfortable. It wasn’t really cold outside but the cold concrete really seemed to seep threw to my core guaranteeing I wouldn’t be able to stay warm. I tried sleeping in several positions, but you really couldn’t lay out extended because every so often a beat cop would come by and wake up those who were laying down on the ground. If you could manage to sleep propped up against the wall, you were fine.
It was rough and I was counting the seconds down ’till the metro would open so I could make it back home into my bed, which I used to think was uncomfortable. Before the metro opened, there were promising signs of life with people walking by our group every so often. I of course, wasn’t able to sleep so I would observe the people as they passed by. I was amazed at the onlookers attitude towards us. They either would give a disgustingly condescending look which if it were verbalized would say “get a job you bums”. There were others that would walk by like we didn’t even exist. I really was offended by it, and according to the guys, it’s something that they are now used to. It was then where I was able to slightly empathize with those I was sharing the concrete with.
In a more recent occurrence, I had a conversation with a homeless man during one of the #snOMG winter storms that passed through DC in the winter of 2010. I was exiting the Gallery Place/China town metro and a seemingly healthy man was asking for change. The snow had recently stopped and the sidewalks had long disappeared under the several feel of snow. I told this guy I could buy him a shovel that he could keep and make some money shoveling sidewalks. He had no interest in taking me up on my proposition and actually became offended and began to spew profanities at me. In this case, this man didn’t want to work even though opportunity was all around him. He easily could have cleared a hundred or so dollars by shoveling snow but he preferred hustling for hand outs.
Both of these experiences gave me two completely different perspectives on homelessness. On one hand, there exist some people who really got dealt a series of bad hands in life and were never able to reshuffle the deck and rebound for various reason. On the other hand there are those who truly are looking for a hand out instead of a hand up. The one thing I’ve taken away from these experiences is that it isn’t fair to judge. I mean honestly, had I been in the same situations as some of these people, would I have been able to overcome the trials? Would you have been able to? I guess that’s an unanswerable question but it is worth a moment of pondering.
In closing, regardless of what you think of homeless people, they are in fact people and not some discarded trash. Out of practice, I personally don’t give money to anyone who is asking, but after sharing those concrete steps for a few hours with some homeless guys I’ve learned that looking someone in the eye and saying “I don’t have any money, but have a nice day” can go a long way.
