Never take away someone's hope...it might be all they have.
You don't have to be a wino, drug addict, or an alcoholic to be homeless. You don't have to be mentally or physically challenged to be homeless. You just have to be a day late or a dollar short to pay the rent...and that usually happens when you lose your job.
...and if you've exhausted all your unemployment insurance income.
Once you had a good job where you worked for 14 years, and you drove a pretty nice car - nothing too fancy, but only 5 years old - and it ran well. You had a nice CD player installed last year and very cool rims. The paint still looked new...hardly any dings.
You also had a pretty girlfriend that you loved and even considered marrying one day. You sometimes played your guitar for her.
Your 1-bedroom apartment was located in a nice neighborhood, and after a hard day at work you'd go home to have dinner and relax on the couch with the remote to your wide-screen TV.
Or sometimes you'd meet up with your co-workers after work and have a couple of cold beers at the local bar, before you went home to make love to your sweetheart.
You used to take in an occasional movie, or go shopping at the mall; or enjoy a nice steak and lobster dinner with your girl on special occasions, such as on her birthday.
Those were the good ole days, when you had pride in yourself and a future to look forward to...but then one day, you were laid off from your job.
And after a few months of looking for work (and being rejected) you depleted your life savings trying to maintain the status quo. Eventually your car was repossessed by the bank.
Then one day it happened. The landlord started knocking on your front door, and finally left an eviction notice on the door.
Then a few days later the sheriff showed up, and you could only leave with whatever you could carry to the street. You have no friends anymore or relatives to help you. Your girlfriend broke up with you a long time ago when you were first laid off. So much for love. Now you're alone...
...and you're also homeless.
When one becomes homeless, their physical appearance rapidly deteriorates. They don't have facilities for basic hygiene such as showering and shaving...no toiletries such as razors, deodorant, cologne, toothpaste, and mouthwash.
It's odd...it's as though a small room with running water (called the "bath room") is what defines the difference between civilization and savagery.
Hunger is constant, and exposure to the outside elements (heat or cold) is taxing on the body. Humiliation and shame gives way to simple desperation. Their hair and beard grows, their clothes become filthy, and sores on their skin prevail. Lice and mites feed on them. They have no access to a dentist and must suffer with toothaches and other health-related maladies.
An old pair of shoes found in a dumpster becomes a prized possession. Almost anything becomes editable...you find yourself in back alleys near fast-food restaurants late at night, hoping no one you've ever known will see you.
Some days you aimlessly roam the streets, lost in your thoughts, wondering how you ever ended up this way. You might be deep in your thoughts when a car full of teenagers passes you on the street, throwing garbage out the window at you while they're laughing.
Or a young woman will drive by and hollar at you: "Get a job!"
Other days you hole up in a nook or cranny somewhere and just endlessly sleep, escaping your predicament. You sometimes dream of your ex-girlfriend...and a few times, your departed father. You wake up ashamed at yourself, but thankful that they don't see you like this.
People you pass on the sidewalk are fearful of looking at you, as though you're some deranged mass murderer. You almost chuckle to yourself at the thought of that, remembering that you too once felt that way...and you'd cross the street to avoid the homeless and "invisible man".
You find friendship with abandoned and stray dogs...you have a commonality.
...and sometimes with wild birds...other living beings that don't judge you.
Some days you felt enraged at the government for allowing this all to happen - and some days you're enraged at yourself. But anger never made you feel any better.
Wait! Someone just tossed a lit cigarette in the gutter - only half smoked - a good find! A simple pleasure in an otherwise hellish life. You inhale with satisfaction, but try to make the moment linger as long as possible.
One night you woke up shivering on a sidewalk - dirty and smelly and hungry - it's cold and raining. You ask yourself, "Is this really worth living for?"
You look up, and almost in a haze, you see the nearby bridge.
You slowly get up and begin walking, leaving all your "prized" possessions behind. You have answered your own question.
It seems like years since you once signed that petition, but the suffering will soon be over - you have finally found some peace of mind.
He wasn't alone...
Recession May Be Increasing Suicide Rates, But We Won't Know For Years
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/02/recession-may-be-increasi_n_208534.html
ABC Predicts Suicide Rates Will Go Up, Just Like During Great Depression
http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20080610143517.aspx
The director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: "There are data to substantiate a relationship between unemployment and suicide."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/179422
Suicide rate on the rise, figures show
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jan/28/suicide-rate-on-rise
Elkhart Coroner Blames High Suicide Rate On Recession
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/10/elkhart-coroner-blames-hi_n_352806.html
Mike Murphy, coroner Las Vegas: "The increase in suicide among seniors could be because of economic conditions."
http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/feb2009/bw20090226_526384.htm
Suicides: Watching for a Recession Spike - Suicide experts say there is a strong correlation between acute financial strains and depression, often a prelude to substance abuse and suicides
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1878044,00.html
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