Have you ever realized how lucky you really are when you are driving under a bridge or in a poor part of town and you see a homeless person begging for work or food? Or do you just drive by and act as though you never saw the horrible sight and go on about your business? Just like in the book Les Miserables,” Fantine becomes homeless to take care of her daughter, whom she gave to the Thenardiers for what she thought was a better life. Everywhere you go, everywhere you look, there is always someone less fortunate than you. Homeless people come from all walks of life. Anyone can become homeless. You could be born to a rich or just well-off family and end up under a bridge across town.
Have you ever wondered what situations homeless people find themselves in every day, like Fantine did? Homeless people aren’t as fortunate as people with roofs over their heads. They have to search up and down to find a place to sleep where they won’t be awakened by a police officer who doesn’t like where they are. But regardless of who these people are, they are still people who come from all walks of life, all races, and religions (Marx 4). Although many were born into homelessness or were brought down to it by their parents, many have lost their jobs during economic changes of the 1980s and weren’t able to find other work, either because they were too old to be hired or didn’t have the correct skills (Marx 4). All over the world, people are discriminated against because of the way they look and mainly because they aren’t on the same level of society as the average person.
But not only adults are homeless. Teenagers and children are also living on the streets. Many are runaways and throwaways (Hyde 52). Just because you don’t see swarms of children living on the street, it doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Seven hundred fifty thousand to one million three hundred thousand boys and girls are homeless because they are runaways from either broken, abusive, or dysfunctional families. But many also come from being thrown out of their homes, some for reasons and some for no reasons at all (Hyde 52).
But either way, it’s no excuse to throw your child out on the street. All teenagers, children, and adults need places to live (source: Homeless in America,” page 146). Thousands of Americans stay in shelters each week (source: “Homelessness”). Shelters, such as church basements, old hotels, or even buildings built for shelters, usually stay full (source: Marx, page 4). Every day, people are turned away, and some have given up on finding a bed to sleep in (source: Marx, page 4).
Just like Fantine had to sell herself” to make it, people on the streets are doing this every day just to get a warm meal to eat (Hugo 97). Next time you are driving out of town, don’t look out your window and think “poor soul.” Do something the best way you can, even if it is just giving a bottle of water.
