The system

After a week of letting the effects of the Denver Mission trip brew, I have something to say.

1 in every 4 homeless person in Denver is a Vietnam veteran. I wrote about two of them I met here. I wrote about the strikes against them.

There are other obstacles for most homeless people. Yes, some of them make a choice that leads them there. But what does it take to turn around? As we had performed a community scavenger hunt last week, I got a few of my questions answered.

Rhetorical situation. Former alcoholic wants to stop what he's doing. We'll say he's single for simplicity sake--less people in the equation usually makes it easier to get out of homelessness, but let's be honest with ourselves and recognize this is not usually the case.

Loss of income to alcoholism probably means loss of job. Without income, rhetorical man probably didn't have a chance to pay health insurance any more. The system for most homeless shelters requires negative results of a TB test. Okay, most free clinics in Denver supply those. Man goes to said clinic only to find out he has a lot of paper work to fill out. Identification is necessary, but over time he had lost his wallet. Time to find ID.

There's a place for that too. But it means more paperwork. And it means more time. Don't forget that transportation is out the window because he can't afford a car anymore. Two options: he can take the bus or he can walk. Obviously, walking takes longer, but it is free. Then we have to consider the weather. If it's cold, and man doesn't have good clothing, the walk takes even longer. If it's hot, you better make sure he's well hydrated.

Hmm.. even the local McDonalds is charging 50 cents for water these days.

Okay, man has an option for reduced fair because of his situation. However, that takes more time, and more paperwork. He'll walk. He walks. Getting identification takes a few days, a few stamps of approval. All this so he can fill out the paperwork for the TB test he needed in the first place.

Man makes it to the clinic and realizes there's a line. Perhaps he showed up near the closing hours and they had to turn him away. No offense rhetorical man. So he returns the next day, but still is forced to wait a couple hours.

You could say that you would do what you had to. Need I remind you how upset you get when someone cuts you off in traffic, delaying you a mere 15 seconds? Don't tell me you wouldn't get frustrated with this system. Especially not when you're used to making a doctor's appointment, showing up, and you're out within a half an hour.

The TB test is administered, but can not be read for another 48-72 hours. That's time that can be used for finding a job. But how does he get to those places of work in order to fill out an application (hey! more paperwork!)? And in the mean time, where is he going to sleep? What if the clinic asks about his alcohol problem? What if he's forced into substance treatment?

Substance treatment on the street is dangerous. His body struggles with the flushing of his system (and we haven't mentioned how the weather might affect this). The withdrawal systems might lead to panic attacks, depression.. Physically he may find himself vomiting and in tremors. Let's say he falls asleep on a park bench from exhaustion (where did he get the food in the first place?). The police come and say he can't do that. Perhaps he gets off with a warning. Perhaps they think he's on drugs because of the culminating withdrawal systems.

You wanna just throw him into a rehabilitation center don't you? Well, that takes money, my friend.

Perhaps the cops throw him in jail. A place to sleep? Maybe. Depends on who's in there too.

What options are there to making money for food? There's begging. So he begs. I've seen and heard of those who get stuck in the cycle of begging. At first they face a lot of rejection and it brings them down. But then the rejection doesn't faze them anymore. Can you imagine what that does to a person? It's like the child who's told he's ugly all his life. He's not, by the way, but after hearing it so many times, he starts to believe it's true.

Begging can also be destructive if it works. What was it I heard said? "The worst thing I ever did was pick up that cardboard sign." The man had gotten so used to it, that he no longer had ambition. That's no good either.

Another option could be collecting cans. That probably includes dumpster diving. When we had gone on the scavenger hunt, one student had to reach through poop just to get three cans. Each group worked to collect 25 cans (which not every group was successful, I might add). When they went to turn in the cans they got a whopping 20 cents. It used to bring in about 50 cents (enough for water at McDonalds?), but the economy has brought down the cost for aluminium.

Are you tired yet?

People do sleep in dumpsters, but they'll often get skin infections and diseases from doing so.

How many days until rhetorical man is actually capable of staying in a shelter? One for which he had to wait in another line for, and had to walk to, and fill out more paperwork.

How will he get housing? Excuse me, how will he get approved for housing so he can then apply for housing? What will his job be? How likely will someone hire a former alcoholic who smells funny? Who perhaps spent a night in jail for presumably attempting to overdose on drugs? How much rejection to housing, begging, etc. can one person take before it's not worth the fight anymore?

All this for the man who wants to turn his life around. I'm not saying it should be a cake walk, but let's remember our first statistic and think about the ones who have served our country. The statistic is coming close to adding fighters from the Middle East too.

May we also not forget our state before Christ took us in. May we remember that Christ was homeless:

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me...

I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. (from the passage in Matthew 25:31-46)