Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Homelessness - An 8th Grader's View of a National and Local Crisis


Homelessness

I live in the suburbs, yes. So people I know sometimes just think that it’s weird whenever they see a homeless person or make fun of them. I think that is wrong. It’s wrong because these people from school and sports and friends judge homeless people because of their appearance. They don’t understand what has happened to these people, and some just don’t care. It saddens me.

I remember one of my friends has this crazy mom. This mom is so crazy, judgmental, and a whole bunch of other things you wouldn’t like to be. Well anyway, she’s scared of homeless people. She’s so afraid of their “abnormality” and thinks that they’re just bad people in general. But the truth is, even if you’re a “bad” person, you don’t deserve to be homeless.  Back to the crazy lady; well she kind of raised her kids to be the same way. 

I mean, do you think people go around saying, “Oh golly. I hate my job. I’ll be homeless instead.”  No. That’s not how it works. Some of the reasons why people are homeless are because they lose their job, get evicted, or domestic violence. 


What’s annoying about this is that maybe if her kids take her seriously; when they have kids they’ll pass along the message and then their kids, and so on. And if you think about it, that’s only ONE family. So think if there’s a million other families out there that think the same thing: Homeless people=bad.

I couldn’t even imagine what it’s like to be homeless. But that doesn’t mean you or I should pity homeless people. We should all try to help them instead. You can help by volunteering at shelters, donating money and clothes to the shelter, feeding the homeless on Outreach or at a soup kitchen. It might surprise you, but it’s actually fun helping people. It just makes you feel better about yourself and you know you helped someone in need; at least that’s how I feel whenever I help out.  So go out and help today.J

Together We Can

The color of the blackish hue forms a colossal
Depressed thought,
This is what we have done to our world,
Broken cities,
Broken hopes and dreams,
A broken place to live.

No one helping,
All cheating,
People fighting,
No one caring,
People lying,
Little kids crying,
People dying.

But when we help each other,
Together we can
Feed the starving,
House the homeless,
Clean the Earth,
Make our world anew.

Yiken Jongerius is an 8th grade student who is also an active volunteer for agencies that serve the homeless.  Sheffield Place is grateful for her perspective and insight.

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