People Just Want to be Human
It’s hard for me to choose one person or story to share, because at the Ritter House we don’t really get the time to talk to people. There is one lady that came in last week and she only came in for one item, she didn’t even want a whole bag of food. When she asked if we had a salad and she said yes, she got so excited. She left with the biggest smile on her face, and I thought “wow, even the simplest of things can make them happy”. Her smile made me remember her face. On the Sunday following that day I was leaving church and I saw the lady leaving the church as well. I didn’t go up to her or anything, but I realized that the homeless are people just like us. As a society we have gotten so used to ignoring the issue of homelessness that we have othered the people affected by homelessness. We have forgotten that the homeless are people just like us. Ever since I was little I was taught to ignore the people that are begging for money, because they don’t deserve help since they probably did something stupid. But that is more than likely not the case. The lady that I helped seem like an immigrant that had been here for awhile, and she was probably put in the position to need the Ritter House due to how US society views immigrants. We offer immigrants low paying jobs that have no benefits and so they have no means of taking care of themselves. We do not provide immigrants with the resources they need to make it in America, because America is very individualistic and we tend to not worry or care about others. All of the problems that are about people being ignored go back to people only caring for themselves or wanting to retain power over a certain group of people. To be powerful you need people to be lesser than you, and unfortunately two of those groups of powerless people are the homeless and immigrants in the US.
Since working at the Ritter House I have noticed that homelessness is something that people like to ignore or never talk about. We choose to remain silent on the topic. Clint Smith believes that silence is dangerous and can have consequences such as discrimination, genocide, war, and violence. He talked about four rules that he asks his students to follow every year: read critically, write consciously, speak clearly, and tell your truth. I think the point that Smith is trying to get across is that people need to think for themselves instead of relying on others to give them the information or the truth. He is in favor of the problem-posing method of teaching and wants to get away from the banking method of teaching. He wants people to speak for themselves, because he wants people to be able to express how they feel about something or to openly discuss issues that our world faces.
Remaining silent about homelessness is dangerous, because ignoring this group of people means that nothing will get done to help these people. Every week we have the same people come in and I have been able to recognize them and remember their names which is nice, because we get to build community, but it is also disheartening because these people rely on services such as the Ritter House. Something happened and led them to be reliant on the free services that are provided. I have noticed several mentally ill people that come in and ask for food, but that’s the only help we can give them. They are not getting the real help they need to be functional in society, because there are not enough resources available to help the mentally ill. As for the resources that are available, they are either too expensive or not good enough to have any real effect. We ignore the mentally ill, because those of us that are not constrained by mental disabilities can’t understand these “other” people. It makes us uncomfortable, but to solve the issue we must first be comfortable with the uncomfortable.
As I said in my last critical reflection I have realized that the homeless are a kind community of people that were just dealt a rough hand. They are human just like the rest of us. Clint Smith said that all people want to be is human, and that is how we should everyone. We need to start seeing each as humans, not animals that you round up and throw into prison or out of the country. After leaving class I will never just be able to see a person as a person. I will wonder how our system has treated them, and whether or not they are living in fear. I will wonder if they have ever been marginalized and if they have felt the effects of it. This class has shown me that at the end of the day we are just human, and the reason we believe that some people are not human is because society has let us believe that certain groups of people are different from others based on skin color, socioeconomic status, education, etc. But I truly understand now that people are humans just like me, and that will help me in my everyday interactions with others and will remind to see people as equals and not as others.
