(no subject)
Today, while I was on the bus to work, I saw a fight between two homeless people. It was already in progress when the bus pulled up: a man and a woman, screaming profanity at each other, oblivious to the rain and the bus full of onlookers. She slapped him, he hit back, and it continued as the bus pulled away. Everyone watched; no one said or did anything (including me).
Then I got to work and found out that it was National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day, which I didn't even know existed until now. That, combined with the fact that it's the longest night of the year, made me realize how fortunate I am.
It makes me think of Jordan, a kid I worked with last year. He left for winter break and didn't return until nearly six weeks later. We found out when he came back that he, his mom, and his two toddler brothers had been living on the street while his mom tried to elude her abusive boyfriend. He may have been the first kid in my class who to experience homelessness, but I'm sure he won't be the only one.
A lot of homeless people have made giant mistakes to get where they are, but many have it thrust upon them. I think that there tends to be a lot of blame attributed to the homeless, and an assumption that there's nothing that can be done. But everyone deserves a warm place to sleep at night. I don't mean this to be preachy; I'm not even sure what I am going to do about it. I think that it's ridiculous to be having a national debate about holiday greetings when there are going to be people on the streets for those holidays. If the same amount of airtime and vitriol were devoted to actual problems....