Students had the following information:
Your group will imagine that you together are one homeless teenager – you are roving around Lakeview by yourself, with only the clothes on your bag and $5 in your pocket (without knowing where your next money is coming from). Keep in mind that homeless people often have worn-out clothes, hygiene challenges, and dilemmas over breaking vs. following the laws.Starting from this meeting point (Clark & Belmont), your group will explore an area of Lakeview (your adult will follow behind you and let you know if you need to turn around). You have 45 minutes to answer the following questions that face homeless teens every day:
- Where/what am I going to eat?
- Where am I going to go to the bathroom?
- Where/how am I going to warm up?
- Where/how am I going to sleep?
- Also, as you explore Lakeview, look around and take in the neighborhood: why do you think it is an attractive environment for homeless teenagers?
The pictures interspersed in this post were taken by student Aileen Juarez and me, during our urban immersion exercise. Representing our class this week on our blog, here are the thoughts of Sarah Eden, Aileen Juarez, and Valentina Cordero...
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Sarah Eden
“Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered” (Proverbs 21:13). Essentially, this tells verse from the Bible tells us that whoever does not help the poor will not as easily receive aid when this person becomes in need. In my first immersion experience as a part of my class, Social Justice and Vocations, I witness an indirect denial of aid to a hypothetical homeless teen. But first, a bit of background information about our assignment.My class travelled to the intersection of Belmont/Clark, which is known as the main meeting location for homeless teens who live in Chicago. We were assigned to put ourselves in the shoes of a homeless teen, and we were asked to attempt to answer four essential questions within our time window of 45 minutes. These were basic questions that every homeless teen is presented with, and these include questions such as: “Where will I sleep?” or “Where will I get some food?” My group and I went to a number of smaller business who actually seemed the friendliest towards us. We also had the opportunity to go to Illinois Masonic Hospital on Wellington, which was surprisingly the rudest to our group. In the end, we concluded that in terms of finding a place to sleep we would either use the parking garage or train-hop. For food, we said it would be most beneficial to ask around at the local restaurants or travel to a soup kitchen.
In a brief analysis of this experience, I have concluded that the average small business would be more generous to the poor than those who are a part of a larger corporation. I see this because those who manage a smaller business see how difficult it can be with opening, operating, and maintaining a successful business. Those who work at a larger corporation, such as a public hospital, are more concerned about the money involved in such transactions. Generosity comes easier to those who manage a smaller company because it is also not as regulated as a hospital.
In my own opinion, I think if anything this scenario should be reversed. I believe that public places, especially hospitals, show be able to offer more than just what's required to follow standard, federal regulations (which is allowing the homeless to stay in the hospital if it is freezing or below). This also reminds me of the Bible parable, The Good Samaritan. It seems that a lot of homeless people (not just teens) have to travel door by door just to see if anyone would be able to accommodate them. This is very similar to the injured man in the parable, in which two men walked passed the injured man until the Samaritan stopped to help this poor man. It just is disappointing knowing that a hospital would deny help to those who need it the most. But let me be clear - I understand that hospitals have a responsibility to take care of those who are injured or sick, but the homeless also fall in the same sort of category.Many actions have been taken in order to fix this issue of poverty, but it seems no matter how many programs are started or organizations that arise, there will always remain those who have less than others. In all honesty, there is not much someone like me can do aside from donating my time to help those organizations who cater to the poor. In order to fix the problem on a wider scale, the entire government and economy has to be changed which can take lifetimes in order to accomplish. I wish to end poverty, and I believe it can start with creating proper programs that run through public places, such as hospitals or libraries.
Aileen Juarez
On Thursday, the class was forced to see what it would be like being a homeless teenager in Chicago, on Clark and Belmont. Things that were already well known about the area was the lively nightlife, the wide variety of restaurants, the heavy population in the area, and the amount of security. Surprisingly, we didn't see any homeless in the area at the time, but that could've been due to how cold it was that day. Either way, we were left to find how we could live there if we had to. What we found was larger businesses were more willing to allow the use of their restrooms and offer discounts or free meals towards the homeless than smaller businesses. Fortunately, the homeless benefit from any sort of donation, but these businesses are most likely helping to seek public sympathy and reel in more customers while smaller businesses can't afford to help the homeless/just don't want to waste their resources. This isn't just in the stores and restaurants of Belmont; this is world-wide. Companies, before considering those in the community that need help, worry for their businesses first.
Any kind of help that an employee comes from someone of a higher position. So who makes the decisions for companies? Most likely the owner. An owner in most cases, such as at McDonald's, Walmart, KFC, Olive Garden, etc, probably doesn’t have an office in each store, especially considering they have multiple areas of business. They most likely sit in a large office away from all the heavy areas of poverty and may not have to deal with hungry, penniless people asking for a small bite to eat. Perhaps they just don’t know and don’t want employees just giving away free resources, forcing employees to turn away those in need. For smaller businesses, it’s more of a struggle. Usually, an owner will have an office in the building and will already be struggling with keeping the business open. This prompts the owner to tell the employees they just can’t afford to give anything away. Either way, this prompts employees to having to tell the homeless to go away. This creates a cycle, going from shop to shop, seeing whose more willing to give or at least allow them to stay there.
Sometimes businesses don’t care about what's happening to a person. Some view the homeless as pests that won’t go away. As Americans, when we imagine the homeless, we think of bearded, flea-ridden, raggedy, trash smelling weirdos for the homeless. We always say help the poor or give to the poor, and yet, we mostly walk past them and ignore them. They’re present everywhere and as a society, we appear to have accepted that. We complain and always say, well why don’t they get a job? To already appear invisible, be viewed as a nuisance, and due to no money to care for hygiene, getting a job as a homeless person is extremely difficult. To get off the streets takes time and money, without help from the ignorant, this can result in people dying homeless.
I can compare this to one story that is recited in Mass frequently: a tax collector who climbs a tree to just have one look of Jesus. He’s rich and far above others but not well liked among the people. Everyone is surprised when Jesus approaches him and asks if he can have dinner with him. This results in the tax collector being so happy that he gives away half his possessions and repays those he’s stolen from four times back. Jesus tells the man he is saved. The tax collector didn’t HAVE to give away all his possessions or repay those he’s stolen from but he did a good thing, which made him, a big sinner, stand out from the others who didn’t commit huge wrong doings. We don’t NEED to give to the poor, but if we did, we would definitely stand out in our community to for doing so.
I for one don’t really care too much for the bible but this story does have a point. You may be the biggest person in town, the richest, the poorest, the lamest, etc, but giving to the poor will help the community, make you a well liked person, and will make you stand out amongst others who don’t do anything. Christ calls for people to stand out by doing the right thing. By doing the right thing, no matter how tiny, can make a huge difference for those around us.
By giving a dollar to a homeless man, that dollar can prolong that man's life by a day. By doing even more than that, almost any kind of help can prolong the life of someone in need. Offering a can of food, money, a blanket, a coat, or maybe even a haircut, is a large thing to give to someone without much. By seeing what the homeless go through in about an hour - that they need a place to sleep, eat, keep warm, and take care of hygiene - by helping at shelters, bringing food or offering to buy a meal for someone less fortunate, or even lending your ear to someone can make a difference. If one person does it, it’s bound to pass onto our friends, family, and soon the whole community.
Valentina Cordero
On December 3, 2015, our class experienced how it felt to be a homeless teen. In this activity, we were divided into groups of 6, and we walked around the neighborhood asking local stores and hospitals about what resources they could provide for the homeless teens that live around the intersection. This activity helped us realize how hard it is to find food to eat, something to drink, a place to stay warm, and most importantly where to sleep. We came up with a couple of answers to how homeless people live daily. It was difficult realizing the realities of their situations. This experience was eye opening as I discovered that homeless people don't have the help from others as I believed. Many people declined to help the homeless. As I experienced how to be homeless, I understood that these homeless people are being hurt and neglected by society. They are looked down on because of their appearance and are denied a helping hand. The people that are benefitting in these situations are the successful people who don’t have to worry about becoming homeless. I believe that homelessness occurs universally, but I have seen a lot of homeless people here in the United States because of the country’s ideology. In the United States society, people either succeed or fail, and often times, the successful people don’t look out for the other social classes that need help. I believe that the reason why homelessness occurs in this society is because of competition. In work and everything we do, people are forced to compete and this competition causes one person to win and the other to lose. This ideology of competition and trying to have it all is what causes the situation where people are pushed to the edge and become homeless. Through analyzing my experience from the economic viewpoint, the successful people and small business are the ones who own and have the money. The people that are dependent from the resources that they could provide for them are the homeless people. They depend on the successful people walking down the street and on the small business that could provide for them food, water, and a warm place to stay. In the political part of a homeless person’s life the government decides what is to happen to them. The person that picks the deciders is the president or any high authority. The people that are excluded from this process are the people who are homeless as they are meant to obey any dictate that the government. In society, the person who is left out is the homeless person. The people that are included in society are only those who succeed and don’t depend on others. The relationship that is involved is very distant because homeless people are looked down by other social classes.
Everything from the past helps you become either successful or unsuccessful. Based on previous acts one is able to build a future. Yes, I believe that there is a cycle/structure hanging over the situation; if homeless people have failed in the past, it is much more harder for them to get up and keep trying to build a future. The beliefs, values, and influences of the community affect the behavior and decision of other people in deciding whether or not they want to give a helping hand to those who need it. This affects the homeless people’s life everyday, because based on many factors a person could decide to help these people out or not. The beliefs, values and influences of the communities affect one’s actions toward the rest of the people.
The Bible story that reminds me of this situation is when Jesus sat down with the disciples for the Last Supper. This reminds me of this situation because this teaches us that people should help in any way they can. Jesus serves as a positive example on how to treat everyone like brothers and sisters. I believe that the Catholic Social Teaching theme that is relevant in this situation is the one that calls for family, participation, and community. That calls humans to participate communally with all people. I feel very upset on the way society treats the homeless. I have never been in a similar position, but I have always helped others who have not been economically stable. I do feel implicated in marginalizing these people because I have not provided them with help when I have passed by them in the streets. I do identify with marginalized people in this country as there are situations where people discriminate based on my race and ethnicity. I do feel called to respond in faith by helping those I can. Christ would expect me to act generously toward those in need. I believe more people should become aware of the realities of a homeless person’s life in order to respond and help.
I believe that the way to bridge the gap between social reality and what we hope for is to stop being sorry and start acting by helping. We can make a difference to a person’s life. I believe we can reasonably attempt to do this by working with our communities by becoming educated and then going to provide homeless people with essential resources like food, water, blankets, etc. Everyone who wants to help with this can be involved. I believe St. Benedict Parish can advocate for the marginalized with us.
Note: Minor grammar/style edits have been made to each post not affecting the content or perspective of these students.
