When I talk about a homeless person, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Some scruffy, dirty, bearded guy who is hanging out on a street corner? Or maybe something similar to that description? What you just did when you read the word or hear the word “homeless” is that a profile immediately came to mind. We all do this and we all (or at least those who are honest with themselves) profile people, place people into a category or a box that we have been taught by our society. It’s true. I am just as guilty as anyone else except I try extremely hard to not do this.
As a homeless person myself and having seen up close and personal people who live with that label, I’ve seen that there is as much variation among the homeless community as there is amongst those who are not classed as homeless. Let’s take this one step further. What is homelessness? Really. There are all kinds of definitions so just for the sake of simplicity let’s consider a “homeless” person as someone who lives in a shelter, a camp, under a bridge or an abandoned building and may not have the means or desire to live as a “normal” person does.
When I interact with a ‘homeless” person I find that I have to vary my technique, language and style as much as I would do if I was interacting with a “normal” person. There is that much variation amongst all of us. The only real difference is our personal reactions or how we deal with our lifestyles. Yes, some of the people classed as “homeless” are that way because they want to live that way. There are others who have physical or mental problems that keep them there. Others are just simply down on their luck. The bottom line here is that the reasons they are in that position is unique to each one of us.
When dealing with a “homeless” person there is no one cookie cutter approach. Much as we would prefer it to be that way just to make things simple for us trying to help. I’ve been accused of not being as compassionate as I should be when I deal with some “homeless” people. The reason is that they are all different. Once you get that then the way you deal with anybody will get both easier and harder.
Yes, there are those who deserve gentle treatment and help with getting things done to improve their situation. There are others who can do things for themselves but would rather act otherwise to get you to do for them what they can do for themselves. Then there are those who “got game” and work the system. You know who they are too if only you or I would stop long enough to see where they fit in. What I get accused of from time to time is that I take a hard line with some people because I was once like that. I had the mindset myself that it was easier for me to let someone hand me something, whether it was money or food or something else I needed, than it was for me to get off my backside and take care of business on my own. You just have to know when to draw the line because the level of assistance needed differs as much as it does for everybody. There is no one way to help those who are in the “homeless” category.
Keeping this in mind will help you as much as them in the overall scheme of things. Today I still need help but even with that said I can a do many things for myself that I would much rather others do for me.
Just my two cents worth…
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