The homeless population consists of lazy, panhandling drunks.
This is the stigma toward less-than-fortunate members of society.
“Get a job” is a phrase frequently directed toward “hobos” or “bums.”
If this is an attitude you share – you probably haven’t taken LA 101 or you would recognize this line of thinking as a clear slippery slope fallacy, and I doubt you have spent much time with the homeless community.
Devoting some time to these individuals erases this consensus.
The homeless population is diverse. A model stereotype for homelessness doesn’t exist.
Most of this group consists of people one would consider normal.
Not all people in this segment of society fit into the categories of lazy, alcoholic or drug addict.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2007, 10 percent of Lawrence families were surviving below the poverty level – living paycheck to paycheck.
It takes just one catastrophe – a medical emergency, a car accident, being laid off – to send some of these families to the streets.
OK, so it is apparent that some of the homeless drink. A lot.
We are told not to give panhandlers money because of their likelihood to deposit it at the nearest liquor store.
But put yourself in their situation.
If I had to endure sleepless frigid nights, endless ridiculing stares and uncertainty for tomorrow, I think I would choose Jack Daniels over Jack in the Box to numb the pain, too.
Sadly, some are not even old enough to make that choice.
According to the Pew Charitable Trust’s report, more than 165,000 in the foster care system “aged out” before they were adopted between 1998-2005.
At 18, how do you go about getting a job with no money, no connections, no clothes, and if you are like a significant portion of the homeless population, a record of serious mental illness?
Even the fast food industry doesn’t eagerly hire people fitting this bleak description.
Some homeless people probably are lazy. Just like some wealthy people are lazy.
Laziness is a character flaw that inhabits every economic class.
Shocking as it may seem, there are even some lazy students at this university (you know, the ones nobody wants in their group for the big project or the ones who come to class maybe twice during the semester, only to sleep in the back of the classroom.)
If these couch potatoes didn’t have encouraging and financially supportive parents, I doubt they would be here at all.
Prejudice against homeless people is too accepted, too prevalent and misdirected.
Each person on the streets has a story: generally, not a feel good Disney-worthy one.
Unless you know the story, there is absolutely no justification to shrug them off as “lazy bums” and treat them as less than human.
Homeless people are members of society too, and a society is only as strong as its weakest member.
Try to understand, not recoil from, our struggling colleagues.