MISSOURI — The following story contributed by Codi A. Hobson Sr.
When you hear the word “homeless” what comes to your mind?
Maybe the image of a dirty man unclean, unshaven, with matted hair? Let’s go deeper. What words or emotions come to mind? Poverty, despair, sickness?
What if I told you that though those paradigms may exist, that is not always the case? Would you believe the man next to you at the coffee shop on his two-year-old laptop in a cheap, thrift shop, button down and dark-wash blue jeans to be a homeless man?
Or the woman behind the counter at the gas station with the words “shift lead” under her name? What about the man behind you in the store buying a mess kit a camp stove and beans at 70 cents a can? But he’s in $200 work boots and drives a large SUV.
Those are all people I have met or read about, and the last was me. My tenure as a homeless member of society was short. I was blessed in that way, but I did learn new things every night and day – both first-hand and second-hand. I had to re-learn a lot as well.
We don’t always choose our circumstances and we aren’t always at their mercy, either. The man taking a shower in the work sink may have been kicked out of his home, forced to leave his kid behind. Or maybe he felt he had to walk away to save his own mental health.
I had a job and a cell phone on which I could watch TV and talk to others. I’d step into the break room after everyone had left to don my sleepwear and lie in my bed roll in the back of my SUV with all the amenities of your home, save for on-demand heat, air conditioning and running water.
Homeless aren’t always in the crevasses of society, nor are they sequestered to the dark corners of the cities. I was the co-worker in the truck who laughs so he doesn’t make others feel pity.
Pity and the current paradigm do nothing but imprison the person within the box that society has placed them. This is not their situation that is separate. That I learned in my experience when people would despair at learning of my living situation.
If you are reading this and you are homeless but want to change that, do not despair. Take a breath, take each problem one step at a time. It’s OK to have setbacks. I did, I also got very lucky and was blessed immensely by God.
You are not alone.