It's Not a Crime to be Homeless

Whenever I am looking for an article or a news story to write about for my weekly blog there is never a shortage out there. What I am always shocked by is the number of people who exclusively place blame on the homeless people. This was the article I read this week and there are many quotes from residents and business owners who claim to feel "empathy" but it is evident they are more concerned with how the homeless population is affecting them, their business and their customers.

https://gazette.com/news/homelessness/colorado-springs-homeless-problems/article_6f2d1f8e-12da-11ef-ad24-13ec9a303f88.html

Homeless people are not the problem. The problem is we live in a society where stray dogs and cats receive more compassion and resources than people battling mental health or addiction. The United States GDP is the largest in the world by Ten Trillion dollars over 2nd highest nations GDP (China) and is more than the 3rd-10th nations GDP combined. With this amount of wealth and resources there is absolutely no reason why every person currently living in this nation should not have access to housing and healthcare. Fixing these two issues will solve homelessness. You can't expect to solve the problem by relying on the system that created it. We need to create a new system that is people first. Only then can real change be accomplished. 

Think about any time in your life where you had experienced stress. Perhaps you or a family member experienced a health problem or lost your job. Now imagine dealing with that stress while being on the street and having to deal with the possibility of having all of your possessions swept away by local police because your campground was not in a location where camping is not permitted. How do you expect those people to be able to deal with that stress and make any positive substantive changes when they are in constant turmoil. When it comes to mental health and addiction those problems are challenging enough to deal with for people that have stable housing, resources and a support system. These are the things we should seek to provide for the people impacted by homelessness. We need to seek to understand them and help them build community. We need to be empathetic and approach people impacted by homelessness with compassion. Rather than thinking about how their existence is an inconvenience to you I challenge you to think "how can make a positive impact". 

An easy way to make a positive difference is to introduce yourself to homeless people you encounter. Ask their name and learn their story. Do this consistently enough and I think you will find that your perception of homeless people is very inaccurate. Homeless people are people and they are not responsible for creating the housing crisis, nor are they responsible for creating medical system that failed them. The people at the top of the economy who prioritize profit over people are the root of many of this countries problems. They use their power and wealth to lobby the government officials who are supposed to be acting in the best interest of the people and instead convince them to benefit the owner class. Now with the Supreme Court still deciding on whether or not to criminalize homelessness it is more important than ever to get involved. Letting the police arrest people just for being homeless results in getting them into the for profit prison system in this country. The prison system is also an example of modern-day slavery (another topic for another day). It is a slippery slope if that is the route we go. 

People have a right to exist. Don't let politicians or corporate executives try to tell you that higher taxes on the ultra-wealthy and corporations and allocating those funds towards benefitting the masses is a bad thing. Countries with universal healthcare include Austria, Belarus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, & the United Kingdom. I could go on as there are far more countries that do a much better job providing for their citizens than the US which also have way less resources than the US. Perhaps the US was the greatest nation in the world at one time but we are certainly far from it now. In my eyes the measure of a great nation is how it treats the people who have the least and in that respect we are one of the worst in the world. 

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