Nothing is all a person has when homeless, no house, no food, no clothes, no life and certainly no one there to help them. Being homeless is a bigger issue than you might think it is, especially in Florida. Did you know that 180,000 are homeless, just in Florida alone and 30,000 are children? Yet Florida is not the highest rate of homelessness. You all at some point have thought that you just hate your life and it’s terrible, but these people out there don’t have basic needs that everyone has to have to survive. I use survive because it is such a strong word, they truly have to survive, through the blistering heat in the summer and the chilled temperature in the winter. Through the harassment from those who pass by, and the unbearable hunger every night. We cannot simply sit here and not care or help. Just giving a smile would make their day, but lets do more than just that and give them a nice home and a warm meal at the end of the day.
Homelessness usually occurs because of a job loss, divorce, substance abuse, child abuse or domestic violence. Normally these people cannot afford to pay their rent or house payments and end up in the street for it. On average cities are reporting a 12 percent increase in homelessness since 2009 and that number is increasing every year. Most of you have heard on the news about efforts to get rid of the homeless, not help but get rid of, as if they are your old and blind dog that your mom thinks is a nuisance and needs to be “taken care of”. These efforts have tried to put them in fields in the middle of no ware, that’s definitely going to help them. You might have also heard about the people that help, by bringing them food and new clothes. Yet they got arrested, yes, for CARING!!!! I think this is outrageous. The state complains and complains and complains about homelessness, and they to eliminate the one that actually tries. In all reality all of this boils down to money, “money is the root if all evil”, as quoted, is very correct, because if you can’t bring people what they need because of paper, than there’s something wrong. We need to help these people and it is a moral obligation to help.
You might be asking yourself, well how can I help? It’s simple; don’t just look at the homeless and think, well terrible to be you, because it could happen to anybody. Go to your church, organization, or even our school, to help raise money for the Florida coalition for the homeless. You can volunteer your time at a soup kitchen or a shelter. But, if you can’t do that than at least the next time you see someone out living on the streets, give them a smile, some money or even just talk to them and ask what they have been going through. Those simple things can make a big impact on their life.
“Bleak, dark, and piercing cold, it was a night for the well-housed and fed to draw round the bright fire, and thank God they were at home; and for the homeless starving wretch to lay him down and die. Many hunger-worn outcasts close their eyes in our bare streets at such times, who, let their crimes have been what they may, can hardly open
them in a more bitter world.”
? Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist