Homeless

I had planned to write today about what I would have learned at a seminar I had been invited to at Regis College at U of T. At the last moment I cancelled because I was too tired. I contemplated not cancelling because I did want to be updated about homelessness. I comforted myself by suggesting, that it is not a requirement for me to know right now. That was last night when I was feeling very tired. Today feeling my perky self, I wish I had pushed myself a bit more. On the other hand I believe strongly in self care and I know I made the right decision. How do you make your decisions? The news usually reports that many are one pay check away from being homeless. Initially, hearing this I was surprised, but I am no longer. My father always instilled the value of standing on my own two feet. He was such a hard worker. But he also taught priorities in life and that was that family came first. I have planned my life carefully ensuring that I could take care of myself. My priority was having a house and savings because that was what I was taught. High school also taught me how to understand the differences about credit and debit and balance and risk taking when it came to money. I learned that I was not a risk taker. I feel that I have had adequate instruction and love to understand the benefits of having a balanced life. We live in a society now that was different when I was a child. There are so many opportunities to get money without having earned it. It is spend now and pay later. So much of that becomes interest and one too many can lose their homes to a society, that has become consumed by greed. I like watching a show that I tape “Til Death do us Part.” The financial expert, I believe her name is Gail, goes into a home and gives the couple a wake up call about their expenditures. She tells them how much in debt they really are because for some reason, they do not know. Then she gives them certain challenges and if they are successful, she also gives them a cheque, to help them. Most of the time the couples are happy and all is well for a promising future of balancing debt and earning more income. At other times they have a problem with her attitude. I kind of like her attitude, but I am not the one being taped for live television. Most of the time these couples have families who support them and in some cases have enabled them to live the lifestyle that they have selected. I think it is more important than ever for children to learn about basic finances from an early grade because too many have no one to learn from. The only win situation here are the banks (legalized loan sharks as my mom said once) and other pop up money machines. This needs to be kept in check by governments we elect. It is not fair for people if they do not have the tools to learn and protection, from becoming homeless. The homelessness that I am familiar with is that which involves mental health. Again the news reports that one out of five need help. What resources are there for them? Psychotherapy is not covered by OHIP. There are some organizations out there that help and some do it by exploiting students for gaining their required hours, but is that still enough for one out of five? I was surprised in my undergrad to learn how they closed psychiatric hospitals in the States (I cannot recall if it was the fifties or sixties) and so many of these people who had been cared for, were suddenly homeless and all alone. I am not sure of what happened in Canada because the study at the time was about the US. However, what usually happens there, also eventually happens here. It is up to us to be different and hold on to values when it comes to helping people, but that is not what I always see. I am concerned. Abnormal psychology has been my favourite study. The professor I had was amazing. He was also an expert in court and he provided us with the insight for what we would need in the future. I learned a lot from him. What I really liked about him was his respect for people who really needed help. I will share two stories briefly about how two ended up homeless. The first person when he was a child was being sold by his father, at the downtown bus terminal to men, to be sexually abused. He grew up naturally fearing people and was living in a mid town park under a bridge. His shelter was an abandoned fridge and his only friend a racoon who he would sleep with. This man had an amazing talent for artwork. As much as my professor tried to help him, even to connect him to people who would recognize his art, he couldn’t. This man had been so abused by those who should have loved him and protected him, that he could not choose to live in a society who had taken away his spirit (the professor did not say spirit). He had also been beaten up as an adult because he was a homeless man by those who should have again protected him. With each story that my professor told, I admired his compassion more. In this next story a young man promised his dying father that he would become the doctor his father wanted him to be. The request his father made as he lay dying and the promise given became his torment. He did get into med school but he had a nervous breakdown trying to keep his grades up. He had managed to have good grades prior to med school, but it required him to study very hard with little sleep. In med school he needed more hours to study and eventually became sleep deprived. My professor had informed him that his grades were very good and why would he not consider pharmacy? He certainly had the marks for that aspect. However, he had promised his father that he would become a doctor and in his family of origin a promise to a dying father must be kept. This very bright man, ended up in the streets of Toronto homeless and distraught. He had broken his promise to his father. There were more sad stories of how beautiful, talented and educated people end up suffering so much that they become homeless and find themselves in a hollow pit. I wanted to share with you this morning what I would have learned last night. Instead I share with you what I have learned as part of my studies. Do you think you may perhaps see the person you walk by in the streets? What do you think?