Too frequently, when faced with the predicament of a homeless person, we may recoil and silently pray that they won’t approach us or harass us for money. Every day, we ignore our duties to these folks. We must share our good fortune with them, even if it is merely to smile, greet them warmly, and speak kindly to them because we are a part of a world that has produced and supports a sizable homeless population. For more details, please click here Nexin Startups
A homeless person may frequently find that a kind word, our acceptance of who they are, and our appreciation of them are far more valuable to them than a few dollars or our old clothes. As a result, we demean and devalue the homeless, making them less than ourselves in our own eyes. Instead, we avoid the homeless and try to overlook their presence among us. However, in reality, we are all on earth on an equal footing; neither our wealth nor our achievements make us superior to anyone else. Our admiration of those in positions of power and riches is a reflection of our own greed; we wish we were as wealthy or powerful as they are, and we worship them because we want to succeed just as much.
The winners ensure that they are viewed in the best possible light and that the competitive spirit that propelled them to the top is revered as a great virtue because they receive the finest exposure and exert the greatest influence over our cultural values.
But there is a limit to that competitive mentality. It can rip apart our society with its ideals as it widens the gap between the richest and poorest citizens. The middle class is falling more into poverty as more and more of our wealth is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. A strong competitive nature, which is commonly regarded as a positive, may not be so.
The fact that our families’ breadwinners support us and are revered by us personally for their success and capacity to look after us and provide for our comforts is another reason we embrace the idea that having a strong competitive spirit is virtue.
What would happen if you didn’t have a competitive streak?
We might naturally move to the bottom rungs of society and accept marginal lifestyles that, at best, may be barely subsistence-level, and, at worst, can leave us homeless if we were to look into another person’s eyes and see their need to succeed and step aside because we are not as driven as they are because we hate to win and to make someone else lose. If they lack the competitive spirit, why should we label people like this as evil people? Such modest people frequently believe that when they compete with others, they are harming them; they believe that they are stealing food from someone else. Because of this, the meek may put others’ needs ahead of their own and care less about themselves.
I consider this meekness to be a virtue. It appears to me to be a noble character characteristic to have such a strong sense of empathy for others that you would immediately sacrifice yourself for their good at every opportunity, regardless of how this may effect you. Too many homeless people are like this—kind, humble souls who cannot stand the competitive nature of our economic system and choose not to participate—not out of laziness or moral turpitude, but rather out of charity and a natural desire to put the needs of others before their own.
These folks ought to be viewed as heroes.
We should take a cue from this example and welcome this marginalised group into our homes so that we can take care of them. Instead, we give them traits that terrify us and increase our desire to avoid them. We worry that the homeless will contaminate us since their perspective on the world is so very different from our own. We worry about what would happen to us if we understood them and shared their worldview. As a result, we avoid them whenever possible rather than embracing them.
This does these good folks a big injustice. However, we allow our perception of those among the homeless who may have such unpleasant character traits to colour our perceptions of the homeless so that we can characterise the general homeless population as being a dangerous group of people whom we must avoid. Of course, some among the homeless do not share these virtues and may have unpleasant character traits like being substance dependent or thieves. However, the broader population of homeless persons is not comprised of those who hide among the destitute in order to hurt themselves or others. Many members of this group who appear to be homeless actually disguise themselves as such because they have residences they can go back to at night. Only a small percentage of predatory people utilise our vulnerability to their advantage by pretending to be homeless in order to panhandle or rob us. These people are frequently not actually homeless; instead, they merely use the appearance of homelessness to their advantage. Homeless persons shouldn’t be characterised as a minority group that possesses the unfavourable features of other members of that group. Instead of avoiding our social obligations and shunning our homeless neighbours out of mistrust and fear, we should open our hearts to them and demonstrate our love and acceptance for them.
Although we frequently label homeless people as insane, psychotic, or schizophrenic, only a small percentage of them actually have major mental illnesses. Their inability to compete in our culture is what makes them seem so insane to us. This is the aspect of homeless people that we truly fear the most since it goes against our competitive nature and our desire to crush and outwit our rivals. We find it unsettling and strange to observe someone who doesn’t have a strong competitive nature.
One effect of homelessness is that those who are homeless frequently do not have many excellent opportunities to interact with those who lead stable lives in decent homes. They might draw closer to the fringes of society, where they will likely find those who are more like them and who may have similar worldviews. As a result, they acquire communication skills that are difficult for non-homeless people to understand. In groups of homeless individuals, communication skills frequently falter or take on frightening forms since we could not comprehend what they are trying to convey. Because of this, we frequently assume that homeless people are insane when they are not. Some homeless individuals could indeed be insane, but even those who have developed the habit of talking to themselves or to persons we cannot see are not always insane. Many homeless persons who engage in these acts may simply be extremely lonely or may possess a psychic gift that enables them to communicate with spirits that others are unable to perceive. We may think these folks are crazy, but that is only because we are unwilling to take a chance on understanding them for fear of becoming tainted by their views. We don’t want to run the risk of evolving into them.
Such humble folks once had greater employment opportunities in our society. They served as our housekeepers, gardeners, and so forth. These folks worked in vast numbers for the middle class and lived among us, perhaps not always as equals but as friends and helpers. The roles that were once open to people with a less competitive spirit have gradually disappeared, leaving fewer opportunities for meek people to find a worthwhile role among us. This is because economic pressures have forced more competitive people to take those jobs that were once held in low regard and have made domestic help unaffordable for an increasing number of middle class people.
We now have a problem since there are more homeless people in our community. We foster a climate where criminal elements can hide and those who require immediate medical attention may perish from neglect if we permit these people to remain on the margins. By choosing to ignore and exclude those among us whose economic fortunes are less than our own, we make our own world shakier and more hazardous, and our own spirits more filled with guilt, anguish, and rage.
Even if all we can offer is a smile and some encouraging words, we owe it to the homeless individuals among us and to the rest of the world to do better for them.
And I have a sneaking suspicion that we can give them far more than just words of encouragement or a cup of soup. Therefore, don’t let your dread of homeless people limit your humanity. Find something greater to offer them than your lack of decency or care. Open your heart. Not only will you brighten someone else’s day, but you’ll also experience a fulfilling sense of happiness and wellbeing as a result of all you provide to people nearby who most need whatever it is you have to give.
