Week 7
1168 words by Peter Pham
Homelessness is the social status of not being able to afford a fixed housing because they can not afford a home or because they choose to live on the streets. The typical homeless person doesn’t have the funds needed or the will to buy and take care of a home. There is an estimation of a hundred million people worldwide who are homeless. The numbers vary because of people becoming homeless every day. When I say voluntary homelessness, I actually mean that they choose to live on the streets. Why would someone do this, you ask? A small amount of people choose to live as homeless people because they want to live as nomads. Nomadism has been a way of life in many cultures for thousands of year either due to the seasonal availability of plants and animals or by their ability to trade. Homeless people have different places that they stay at. A few places are in the tent outside, living in vehicles, or in abandoned buildings. The list is practically endless since you can basically live anywhere you find comfortable. These people don’t have much of a choice of where they can live since the government restricts them of places you can stay at for long. The government claims to want to help them, but they won’t allow homeless people to stay where they’re at for the time being until they can find somewhere else to stay. Jobs are extremely hard for homeless people to find because of their appearance and the fact that nobody is willing to help homeless people to begin with. I can’t technically say it’s totally the government’s fault because of the fact that some people really are lazy and that they don’t want to find a job because they like living for free and not paying bills for anything.
One of the good things that the government has done for the homeless people is to offer them health care. Homeless people are more likely to suffer injuries and medical problems from their lifestyle on the street, which includes poor nutrition, substance abuse, exposure to the severe elements of weather, and a higher exposure to violence. This is a very good thing going for the homeless people, but the bad part about it is that most of them have no identification documents and they lack health insurance. There are a lot of clinics around for the homeless in big cities, but they are usually over crowded with patients. Homeless people can’t go to a normal hospital because of their income status. Basically, homeless people have no income. Some on the other hand, find ways to get some money. They would usually perform or entertain to get other people’s attention and donations. Some of these performances are performing tricks, playing a musical instrument, or drawing on sidewalks. Some homeless people beg for money on the streets, but this is becoming more illegal in some states. When all these options aren’t available no more, they would have to resort to crime. The most common crime that homeless people commit is shoplifting. The general amount of homeless people would steal things that they are able to use such as food, blankets, and clothes. Other homeless people would try to steal expensive things to sell back to the public at a cheaper price. The interesting thing is that some homeless people commit crimes just to go to jail for a place to sleep and a free meal. The same also goes for hospitals. They would fake an illness or accident just to get free food from the hospital. I wouldn’t blame them because there’s no way of charging them for anything since they don’t have a job or home.
The definition of a hate crime is to resent people from a certain type of group. This definition is known well by homeless people. Crimes against homeless people have been on the rise over the past few years. Most of these crimes are related to violence. The government does have laws against hate crimes, but these laws do not protect the homeless. I don’t understand why some of these laws do not protect the homeless. That being homeless does not make them any different than we are. It’s just like saying that you need to pay for the government to protect you. I understand the fact that we can’t just give away free health care to every person claiming to be homeless because the fact that everybody would claim to be homeless, but these are people being beaten and maybe killed because they are discriminated against.
The best way to save homeless people from being abused and left to starve on the streets is by volunteering at your local homeless shelters or by donating to some sort of charity. These people can’t be left alone to fend for themselves anymore. It’s truly sad to see the land of opportunity leaving so many people who believed in them homeless and starving every night. If you are one of the type of people who think giving your money to a charity is a waste of time then you can find some kind of way to help them yourself. Putting some time during the month to cook for them or donating your old clothes to them is a great way to help them out. You can do a good deed and make them feel like there is someone out there who cares for their well-being.
God’s house is the place where the Ark of the Covenant was supposed to be in. the house was not a house at all .it was actually a tent. David wanted to build God a extremely nice place to hold the ark of the covenant, but God refused it to show the people that He doesn’t need something nice and flashy.
The Promised Land was a problem the minute God promised it to Abraham and his descendants. This was a problem because there were already people living there before they came. This is messed up because Abraham kicked all the Canaanites out so they could live there. Who would disobey them anyway if they were told that god gave the land to Abraham. I’m sure some people thought he might be lying and spoke their doubts, but most of the people left anyway. The penalty of not leaving was death, so I would leave also if I were them.
Sources
http://www.nchv.org/background.cfm
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/305/homeless-facts.html
http://www.createpeaceathome.org/streetspirit/2005/september2005/riseinhatecrimes.htm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16564208/
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/08/19/homeless_on_the_rise_in_new_orleans/
http://faculty.maxwell.syr.edu/jyinger/Classes/PPA786/Readings/Expell-Homeless.htm