So today I thought I would talk about a different group that is contantly discriminated against in society... the homeless. When thinking of homeless people many stereotypical thoughts come to mind. A man holding a sign on the corner, dirty clothes, drug addict, lazy, boxes, cars, prosititution,etc. Im sure many of you can add on to the list with ease, a list that television has helped to create. But many of you may be surprised to find out, that this stereotype of a homeless person doesn't even represent the majority of the population who is homeless.
There are more children in the United States that are homeless than any other single population. Thats right, over 50% of the homeless population is children. These children have no say in there situation and couldn't be farther from how society stereotypes homeless people. Just think about the word homeless. That alone puts individuals in a league separate from the rest of society and yet people through the word around without thought.
Up until yesterday, I too was surprised to learn this about children. I recently joined an organization called Horizons for the Homeless. This organization dedicates itself towards the children who are homeless. They are the only group in Massachussetts who is dedicated towards helping just children. Now lets think about that for a second, children are the largest homeless population and yet there is only one organization dedicated to meeting there social/ and emotional needs. My particular role is a PAL. I go in once a week for two hours and lead play activties for the kids. While this sounds like a little bit of time to one of us, this time means the world to them, because it is a few hours where everything is about them.
Next time your about to say something about the homeless population, think about just who your saying it too. Its not that 40 year old person living on the stree with a sign. More often your insulting someone who looks like and acts just like your 7 year old cousin, your 2 year old neice, or your 15 year old brother. Homelessness isn't what we all like to cover it up as.
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actually, my girlfriend is doing a similar thing on drug addicts. She is bringing in pictures of say a housewife, businessman, athlete, homeless person, and a minister and asking the kids to fiure out which ones are the addicts: the point is they all can be. it's definitely an interesting thing to think about.
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