Blogger Response #1

  The roughly estimated number of homeless people add up to 3.5 million. That's 3.5 million men, woman, and children in the streets of the United States. These numbers are increasing due to two main problems in the United States; a growing insufficiency of affordable housing and the already large group of those presently standing in poverty. Shelters are offered in most urban areas, but are often overcrowded and suffer from lack of supplies. Although there is help from limited groups, those who pass by a homeless person are often judging these people due to media references which still continue to poison the way we think of humans who are a little less fortunate then we are.

  Watching "Stories from the Streets" opened my eyes to a perspective of some of these people who are misunderstood and treated in wrongful manners every day. They are passed by, ignored, yelled at, beaten, and given little to no respect. The stereotypes they are labeled with makes it harder on them, considering we are taught "bums" are not good people, and they are scary with no kindness in their hearts or even capable of holding any type of conversation because they are "uneducated". Most of the stereotypical comments they receive are from the media portrayal of the homeless. They are looked at as alcoholics, addicts, aggressive, and often a danger to society. Media references like My Fair Lady, a musical, include most common, stereotypical visual of the homeless. Eliza's father, in the movie, has a whole musical number of how he refuses to find work and how he takes money from his daughter to spend on alcohol.

  In these documentary videos, however, we see a side of homelessness that is often not thought of. The idea that this person, under baggy, dirt-stained, clothing, may actually have a story. The fact that they may be just like us, except they had gone through challenges that made them lose everything they had. One man in particular, John, is a Veteran of the Vietnam war. What amazes me is he never once complains about his situation in the video. This man, a hero, sleeps every night on the streets. A man who risked his life for this country, doesn't get a bed to sleep in. He suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which affects his daily life. But no complaints. He often says in the video, that he wants to live life with a smile on his face. Another man who stood out to me was Mikey. He had it all. He was CEO of his company. Fancy cars, nice houses, you name it. He lost it all in the end due to a lack of trust within the company. He now lives on the streets and even with what little he has, he offers an apple to another homeless man walking by. Just the act of kindness between the homeless goes a long way. The idea of seeing these men is eye-opening, considering we are blind to the truth. You see a homeless man and think he is an addict or an alcoholic, when in reality he could be a veteran who served this country to protect YOU. Who wore the uniform of a service man and who suffers from PTSD. But you don't see that do you? You would see a man asking for a dollar for a quick fix because his eyes are bloodshot from the lack of sleep. Instead of using that dollar for a water bottle in summer weather.

  We stick our noses in the air to these people when their souls are kinder than ours. We look down on them because of media references like movies and TV shows with homeless characters who sleep all day and are under the influence of drugs and alcohol. How we are programmed to look at someone who is beneath us because it is they who chose to live their life in this manner, not the way things just took a turn for the worse unexpectedly. When in reality, we should want our hearts to be just as kind as these people who have literally nothing but their spirits. I believe that most homeless people are good people with hearts bigger than what we can imagine, just as those we've seen in "Stories from the Streets". We just need to stop believing what the world wants us to see, and start looking at the bigger picture.