Stories of the Homeless
In March of 2007, I began working at a rather large Christian organization in downtown Jacksonville, Florida. They needed someone to do Front Desk security/reception, and with my military experience I was pretty much a shoe in for the job. It also helped that I was working on my bachelors degree at the time and it afforded opportunities to study while working. A win-win for everyone.
One of my responsibilities while working the front desk was handing out bag lunches to the local homeless. It really wasn’t so much a lunch as it was a snack. It consisted of a single serving can of fruit, vienna sausages, a pack of crackers and a juice box. Nothing fancy, just something to put some substance in their stomach to help them get by.
Well, throughout my time working at the front desk and giving out these lunches, having direct contact with the city’s homeless, I developed some new thoughts on just what these people are like. Many people stereotypically think all homeless people are lazy bums who just don’t want to work. Or they’re alcoholics. Or drug addicts. That’s not that far from the mark, some of them are, in fact, alcoholics and drug addicts. Some of them are lazy and actually prefer being homeless.
But that’s not the case for all of them, possibly not even most. I’ve come to see that not all of them enjoy their state in life. They go out day after day looking for work and can’t find it. As they remain on the street longer, their clothes get more worn and pitiful looking. They can’t take a shower so they begin to smell. As they last longer on their street, their ability to make a good impression to get a job begins to lessen because people can’t get past the look and odor. Eventually, they are reduced to trying to get work from a labor pool or some other form of manual labor, competing with all sorts of people for a small number of jobs. Then things just keep getting worse.
Getting to know some of these people over my time giving them sack lunches has been quite rewarding. One guy comes in all of the time making jokes and always gets me smiling. Others come in and have some very interesting stories. It’s opened my eyes to the fact that, well, maybe I don’t have all the facts. Maybe I don’t understand just what their world is like and maybe I, and many others, don’t know these people the way we think we know them.
Because of that, I’ve decided to find out about the homeless of Jacksonville the good old fashioned way: talking to them. And I’m going to share those conversations with you. I don’t want to say I don’t have an agenda, because I’m sure somewhere deep inside of my psyche I do, I’m just not sure what it is. When I find out, I’ll let you know. As for right now, I just want you to hear the stories of these homeless people. For now, that will suffice.
“Joe” – interviewed on November 13, 2008 | Slightly edited audio interview
November 19th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
[...] Stories of the Homeless [...]