As an outsider looking into problem of homelessness it is really easy to write off and ignore a man living under a bridge. I really regret my previous misconceptions after seeing the reality of so many circumstances. Like the average ignorant American, I felt that homelessness was their fault, that their lack of a home was because they didn’t work hard enough and that they can and should be left to rescue themselves from homelessness.
While everyone stayed at Rescue Atlanta, and took some part in “serving” them, we broke into different work projects during the day. Twenty-one of us teamed up with Church on the Street, an incredible homeless outreach ministry run by an unbelievably humble man with a PhD named Andy who has dedicated his life to getting to know the people living on the street, loving them as we would love our own families, and serving them by either helping them get off of the street or simply encouraging them by spending time with them.
Atlanta has around 17,000 homeless, 10% of which are considered “chronically homeless”, meaning that because of either a drug addiction or a mental illness they will never get off of the street. In the United States, the richest nation in the world, the “most humanitarian nation in the world” that that claims to “do the most good”, two million people live on the street every year, on any given night, around 700,000 sleep on the street. 30% have been homeless for more than two years. 40% are veterans. 20% have mental illness. 22% have been physically assaulted. 22% of homeless women claim domestic abuse as their reason for homelessness. The most heart-breaking statistic is that 39% of the homeless population is under the age of 18. Can you honestly say that a child deserves to be homeless? A recently published booked called “Dear World” contains these statistics as well as several stories.
It may surprise you that the average income of a homeless person is $348. Most of the homeless actually do have jobs. However, most of those jobs are under-the-counter construction jobs where they are not paid fairly. Imagine trying to get a job at that McDonalds with the “now hiring” sign in the window when you have a felony charge on your criminal record for something stupid you did a decade ago. Additionally, because of how society treats them, most of the homeless feel as though they are not deserving of a job. Most of those considered homeless don’t even look the part. Many homeless often share a hotel room with numerous others or couch surf.
Our purpose with Church on the Street was to go out and simply talk to the homeless. You may be wondering: “shouldn’t you make them sandwiches or something”. The truth is that very few of the homeless are hungry because food is the only thing that everyone thinks they need. They are really good at getting food. Even a group with the best intensions of helping seem to adopt the attitude of “here’s your sandwich, have a good day” but never take the time to get to know them, to listen to their story, to learn from them, and to actually help them.
On the second day I met two men who were refugees of war, one of them mentioned that he would much rather be homeless in Atlanta then suffer persecution and civil war in his home country of Ethiopia. I was completely blown away. We have it so good. And yet some of our biggest worries include finding the perfect job, getting a good grade on a project, or even simply enjoying ourselves. It is easy believe that we have it bad, that we are suffering and have it tough. The reality is that we do not. It is a privilege and a curse at the same time that I get to work in a warm Penn State government funded laboratory with the luxuries that I have.
At one point in the week a girl on the trip mentioned that she felt such a strong bond with a homeless man because they both liked looking at fish. I’ve really been humbled beyond belief after meeting so many engineers, some of whom held even higher degrees than the M.S. I’ll have in a few months. I’ve been amazed with how smart some of the homeless people are. I had an intellectual discussion with a man about architecture, engineering and college education. This particular man chooses to be homeless at periods just to be able to better serve those sleeping on park benches at night. If you’re looking for someone to look up to, that’s your guy. He is willing to sacrifice his comfort so that he can gain the trust of the people who our society has literally thrown away in an effort to bring them out of their homelessness.
How well some of these guys know the Bible is amazing. Not every one of them may live it, but many of them sure suffer for it. The trust in God that many of the poor have is absolutely astonishing. Realistically, most of us could make it through our lives relying on ourselves for everything. If that were my attitude, I would be in serious trouble when I die. But the comfortable positions that God has put most of us, as well as millions of people in this country and around the world, feel as though we can rely on ourselves and don’t have to trust God for food, money, friends, etc. This is a lie that most of our country has bought with eternal consequences.
As our week in Atlanta went on it became more and more clear that our society is set up in such a way that the rich become richer and the poor are pinned at the bottom becoming even poorer. It is all too apparent when you find that most of the homeless do not qualify for welfare. It is even more apparent when you read about laws that cities enact in order to essentially make it illegal to be homeless. For example, in Atlanta, it is illegal to not carry your person identification that may have gotten stolen from you the night before. It is illegal to sleep in a public area. It is illegal to go to the bathroom. No one wants someone going to the bathroom outdoors, especially in a city, but no restaurant owner is going to let them use their facilities, and few cities have public restrooms because the homeless would use them.
On our final day in Atlanta, we visited the largest homeless shelter which contains a large open space with bunk beds for up to 700 homeless men, women, and children. It made me sick to my stomach thinking that people in this country live in a place like this. The homeless are forced to wake up early and clear out each morning. Because it is illegal for a homeless person to sit on a park bench, literally, the shelter contains a large “garage” for hundreds of homeless to just sit, nap, wait to go to work, eat food they are given or they buy or simply talk. The injustice done to these people is heart breaking.
The injustice is greatly intensified with how the city is trying to shut this shelter down. Shutting the shelter down seems to be a part of their “Beautification of Peachtree St.” project. The bank has decided to foreclose on the shelter, which is operated entirely by volunteers and has no money at all, if they do not pay off the $500,000 remaining on their mortgage in its entirety by April 30th. This would leave hundreds of people with absolutely no place to do so much as even sit down. The owner of Chik-fil-a committed to donating $750,000 to the shelter but after essentially being threatened by the business owners association, he withdrew his commitment. Whether they realize what they are doing or not, the city and the financially “elite” want nothing more than to exterminate the homeless men, women and children. My question to them is where do they expect these people to go? They have no realistic plan. Rather than helping the homeless get back on their feet, they make it illegal to be homeless and try to take away every little thing they have. I’m all for getting the homeless off the street, but getting them back on their feet is the only way this can happen. This shelter has a program to do just that, but the city wants to tear it down.
So, you hate injustice; don’t have $500,000 to save the shelter and hundreds of lives, but you want to know what you can do? Often when given the chance to answer, Andy, as well as the homeless say that “the most you can do is love the least of these”. Don’t walk by the beggar with a change cup, sitting on a newspaper and propped up against the side of a bank. Instead, talk to than man, woman, or child. Ask how they are doing. Ask how they got to where they are. Don’t ask to pray for them, but to pray with them. Be a friend. Invite them to enjoy a cup of coffee with you and your friends. I promise, you will be blown away by their stories and amazed that you are just like them.
If you're interested in reading more on the topic Mark Driscoll and Justin Taylor have both recently had some really great posts:
http://theresurgence.com/theology-of-rich-and-poor
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/02/26/the-gospel-and-the-poor/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+between2worlds+%28Between+Two+Worlds%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
and here is the link to Dear World: http://dearworld.squarespace.com/download/
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