Get A Job?
My sleeping patterns are changing and I've been going to the office a little later on many days. Lately, when I turn the corner off the main drag, the cold shelter is just closing up for the day even though the sun has not risen. It's patrons, which seem to consist of our more stable homeless population, are bundled up and heading out for who knows where. Most of this group look a lot like you and me. I can tell some are heading to work as I noticed a couple of uniforms and a few that are fairly well dressed and sitting at the bus stop.
I can't help but wonder.....wonder who they are and how they got to where they are. And how, without out the safety net of family, I know a number of people that could have ended up in the same place (that includes my mother after my father abandoned her). There are so many people living right on the edge. I am aware that there are some that take advantage of the system but I would hazard to guess that the vast majority of them would just like a job that affords them the basics like a roof and food.
I also think about the Secret Keeper and how it would be so easy for him to fall through the cracks. We've got our severely mentally ill (for whom I believe history will look back on us poorly) and then there are those who are just not quite "normal". Just enough that people shy away from hiring them or allowing them to rent a room. Or who, for the most part are quite with it, but go through occasional bad spells. I think it's always good to remember that it could easily be any of us or some one we love.
Either way, I am grateful that the Army National Guard Armory uses space to allow people to clean up, eat and stay warm because even in a place where the weather is pretty steady year round, the nights can get cold and goodness knows they can get long.
I've always loved this song. It seemed appropriate today.
one of my FAVE bruce hornsby songs. and how many of us "normal" people are one paycheck away from total disaster?
ReplyDeleteTRUE FACT - the hornsby family owns much of williamsburg VA
Love the song. Homelessness is a huge problem in our big cities too.
ReplyDeleteI am less than one paycheck away from living on the street. I believe life is a crap shoot. We are not where we are because of good decisions and level headed thinking. As one of my favourite songs says, “what ever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's...”
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with that. Successful people who puff themselves up and brag offend me. When someone says it’s because of how hard they’ve worked I want to say “try spending the day picking strawberries in the rain and then tell me how hard you work”. But I look at my former bosses kids, with their big houses, and not one of them has ever heard a steady job. As you say, CRAP SHOOT!
DeleteHomelessness is a very tragic problem. Many people are just on the edge of ending up on the street. I prefer not to judge because we don't know the stories behind each person. I don't believe anyone wants to live this way. This is such a great song!
ReplyDeleteToo many Martha. Way too many.
DeleteThese days, we never know when something will happen. All the foreclosures a number of years ago really affected people's lives and so many never recovered. It's sad here, too.
ReplyDeleteThis is all very cold and true...
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Your words are so true. Be nice to people whoever they are because you don't know what their story is and maybe a smile or a few kind words makes a difference in their day. People have preconceived ideas about situations that they don't know anything about but think they do.
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