How do you look at the homeless?

I want to ask this question today because of a conversation that was had at my job. A lot of co-workers were talking about the homeless and why they will not help them. They had a million and one reasons why they should not help the homeless. One of them stated that homeless just choose to be homeless because they don't want to work. Another stated that they are just drug addicts or scammers who just want to get money out of people. They would say they are lazy, they are crazy, it was something they did to get them there, why should I help someone who did this to themselves? Now I do want to say that some of their reasonings were valid and some of the homeless are what they say they are but truly this should not matter. Everyone makes bad decisions and everyone makes mistakes. You never know what some of these people may have gone through or what really happened to them.

My father ran into a homeless man not that long ago and I would like to share his story. My father was driving along, I'm not sure where he was going or where he was for that matter. He saw a man standing not far from the road. He looked to be in horrible condition. My father pulled over and stopped to talk with the man. My father said the man was very nervous and looked scared as he approached him. My father asked the man if he could speak with him for a moment. The man was very defensive and would only speak if they stayed right where they were, so my father sat down on the ground and began to speak with this man.

Now my father likes to give the homeless their dignity. He always gets down to their level, never looks down at them. He speaks with them like they are another human being. Well, he was speaking with this man and found out what happened to this guy. I will be summarizing this as I was not there personally and don't remember all the details. He was a person who liked to be alone, he was a construction worker and he enjoyed working on projects. He did have a family and kids and he said he used to make a good living. My father said he seemed just like any other ordinary person. So my father asked him how he went from having a family and good job to living on the streets. He told my father that he used to talk to himself, just to sort out his thoughts and to help him make sense of a problem that may be in front of him. I think most people know this feeling, I certainly talk to myself at times. Who hasn't? His family took him to a doctor because of this and the doctor told him he was schizophrenic. Now at this point, my father asked if he ever heard voices or spoke with other voices. The man laughed and said no, he only spoke to himself at times. In a very short amount of time, the doctors started giving this man tons of different medications to help him. It wasn't long and he said one day he woke up in the hospital and was told they were no longer going to be treating him. He left the hospital to find out his family had left him and he had nothing. He had no money, did not have a job anymore as he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, no home or family. He was homeless. His whole life changed in a very short period of time. It is really just a bad time in his life. My father was able to help this man get a place to sleep for the night, clean up and get some food in his stomach.

This man could have been totally lying or just willing to say whatever he needed to get anything to benefit himself but he very well could have been telling the truth as well. The point I'm trying to get at is it doesn't really matter if they are telling the truth or not. There are people out there who are homeless and it was totally out of their control. Sometimes shit happens in life and your whole life can change very quickly. It's a shame that so many who truly do need help do not receive it because they are perceived in such a negative manner. If your able to help someone out, you should because you never know what may happen to you in your life. If your willing to take the time to speak with some of these people you can get a pretty good idea on whether they are telling the truth or not but you do have to be willing to take the time to stop and speak with someone.

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I don't know the answer on how to fix the growing numbers of homeless people and I'm not sure what to do about those who use homelessness just to benefit themselves. I do know that if everyone just looks at the homeless in a negative manner the problem will never get any better. We all need to go out on an individual basis and help how we can. Relying on others to take care of the problem won't get us very far either. I hope the next time you run across someone who looks run down or homeless that you take a moment of your day and speak with them, sometimes just speaking with someone can make the world of a difference for them. Help them however you can, even if it's small. You might be surprised by some of the people you will meet and it will keep you grateful for the blessing you do have. I also hope that if you are one of those who looks at the homeless with a very negative outlook, that you can look at this from a different point of view.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on this matter. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on the homeless. Upvote and Re-Steem if you enjoyed.