Homelessness - Why?

All across America there seems to be an ever growing problem called Homelessness...The problem has seemed to escalate right before our very eyes.... my question...why? When there is obviously enough money to provide and care for the sick, weary and weak and downtrodden.... why are they on the streets? And why, someone please tell me is the number for teens growing?

I pass them every day on my way to work and my heart literally sinks when I see them carrying their possessions in shopping carts and grocery bags. Years and years of their lives reduced to garbage bags, while we so happy and gay purchase new bags to carry our overstuffed wallets…. we point our fingers and we stare at them as though they are alien…

See there is a problem.... A very big problem when we as Americans are more concerned with the amount of space we invest in our homes.... ridiculous amounts of space and money allotted to carry out our dreams: 50 to 60 some odd thousand square feet homes lavishly built and seated.... yes that's right, right smack dab in the heart of the homeless situation.... we pass them everyday, we offer nothing, yet speak of them in tones unjust and uncaring....we dine on the finest meals served to us on the finest crystal and china.... they search for food we toss in garbage bins....We, so lavishly decked out in the finest furs and silks and linens...while they are in torn garbs and soiled linens seeking shelter and warmth from the elements....And folks…there’s children involved this time…Yes! Our children are wandering the streets, but why? I could offer an explanation for the lack of parenting in today’s society but then that would mean those who failed as parents would actually have to admit that things were done wrong. See sitting your children in front of the television set and expecting them to raise themselves while you're off in the streets is not the way…Lack of control in your household as a result of your fun days and nights and neglect to your children your homes your spouses, usually is the end result of the often selfish syndrome, “I have a life.”

See what we fail to realize is that our children are the products of ourselves. They display the years of abuse, neglect or the love we bestow upon them. Yet they are on the streets because we can’t deal with them or reality so we’d rather leave them to society and the streets to raise. They are suffering; our future, our past, our present, yet, because our children aren't perfect and according to society have brought shame and dishonor upon the fairy tale "perfect" lives we've created, we’re a little more concerned with the sizes of our diamonds, our cars and our houses. Distortion, and reality, is coexisting.

There is something wrong when we can pass our brothers and sisters on the streets and they ask for help and we keep walking...Or we scream and yell, “If I can get a job so can you, damn fool!” Yeah these very same "fools" had lives, or so we refuse to remember; she was probably that woman who lived at the corner house and baked cookies and cakes for everyone, or he was the man who would shovel snow from the sidewalks to help out his fellow neighbors. They had homes, dreams, goals and wants, which were suddenly snatched out from under them in the waking hours when we were still trying to wipe the sleep from our eyes. These very same people that answered our calls when we were distressed are left walking the streets hoping someone will hear their cries.

Yes our brothers and sisters that we walk through on our way to work or walk around them because they are considered an eyesore. The invisible ones we call them, as we try to ignore them and forget them. God forbid if something were to suddenly change our lives and we find ourselves cast in the same role as our brothers and sisters; our stomachs burning from the intense hunger as we watch others dine sufficiently, our skin cracked and peeling from the wear and tear from the elements. Our souls damaged from the abuse and our hearts weary.

It takes less energy to show an act of kindness rather than the energy spent to spew hatred and anger at the so-called “invisible ones.” Your life as you’re so accustomed to may be cushy and filled with beautiful trinkets and square footage about the size of a football field, you may have a ton of family and friends who support you in your endeavors, you may win and you may lose, and one day you too could become downtrodden, homeless and labeled “the invisible one.”