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Dignified Homeless
by "Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble." Psalm 41:1 (KJV) Today I saw a woman outside of my local library who wore the same khaki outfit I saw her wearing two days ago. She was extracting a banana from the trunk of her car and it looked as if the banana was among many of her belongings in the trunk of her car. I noticed her running past the library two days ago in an effort to possibly keep in good physical condition. She was in the library until closing the other night, and I have concluded that she is homeless. There are many homeless people now among us. They appear in places that we frequent, but they are in disguise. They may seem physically fit, well dressed, a member of our local gym, but at night they extract their belongings from the trunk of their cars and they find a place to hunker down for the night. Some are sleeping in their cars. Some are sleeping in dark alleyways behind dumpsters. Some are bunking with various family or friends in rotation so they don't impose too long on any one person. This underground community may be in need of food, shelter, or clothing, but we would never know it to look at them. They seem to have it all together as they carry on friendly and intelligent conversations with us. Look closer, and they will disappear on us in a flash if we seem to get too nosy. We have to stop pretending not to notice that a person just washed up in the fast food restaurant restroom. There are men that carry all of their belongings in a backpack and sleep behind the drugstores that stay open twenty-four hours a day. Wake up America! We have become a land of dignified refugees in our own country. Our country is losing valuable citizens, and we are asleep to the plight of the average American family. The solutions are not easy, but they bear looking into. Should we provide more jobs, more affordable housing, more shelters, or more outreach from the local churches? Please notice, care, and offer long term solutions to our fellow human beings before we all become extinct. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |