Night and Day

The wind cut through me fiercely as I stuffed the final dollar bill in the parking fee slot in downtown Columbus, Ohio. I felt as if I were being watched: like there were curious ghosts surrounding me. My anxiety wretched as I turned to walk and met the eyes of a woman wearing multiple coats and carrying an overflowing Kroger grocery bag. She threw her eyes to the ground. 

It was as if we were passing each other in slow motion; she kept attempting to raise her eyes at me for I could not stop looking at her. I wanted to flash a smile to warm her up but she continued walking. 

It happened again. This time it was a bearded man with long dreadlocked hair. Then again by the man in the navy blue sweatsuit. When I passed the business woman with the brief case I had no difficulty getting her attention. I didn't even have a problem with the busy man rambling on his cellphone. It was a pattern.

I climbed the steep staircase and arrived at my destination, The Open Shelter. The individuals here look like the others I encountered on the street but there was one difference: their smiles. Amiss the chaos was laughter and polite, "How are you sweeties?" The people inside were the same as those outside except for their spirits. This is proof that we as a society push these individuals to their faces on the pavement. They are outcasts. They disappear because this is society's means of solving the problem and they oblige.

Part of the mural painted by regulars at the Open Shelter

This is humanity

Solomon greeted me at the entrance and it was so loud I could hardly hear. But then again, the homeless are so accustomed to keeping quiet it must have felt good to mingle. I was officially in their element and it hurts to know they will never be welcomed into my world the way I was into theirs. 

As I sat down with the director, Kent, I let him do the talking as I tried to observe my surroundings. Tough guy Solomon really has a heart of gold. One minute he is domineering as he attempts to bring some order to the situation. Then he would get quiet for a minute and I would her him say "Do you need some food? Are you hungry? Are you cold?" And he would do so in the most nurturing and gentle voice I have ever heard.

The restroom is a popular spot. We take that for granted. "If you live in a bush," like Kent says, where do you think you can go to relieve yourself in the middle of the night? Downtown Columbus shuts down during the week once business office hours are over.

There is one room covered from floor to ceiling with piles of clothes, sleeping bags and tents. It astounds me. Instead of wanting to change a social problem that can inevitably not be fixed until the government intervenes, the good people here strive to make life as comfortable as possible for these individuals while they temporarily live on the streets. Media traditionally offers no help either; they either brush the surface, focus on the stereotypical notion that addicts and the mentally ill are the only types of people who are homeless, give it a cookie-cutter positive spin or don't cover it at all. The homeless are in desperate need of advocacy.

This is real. They are real.

Before I go...

Today it will all change. This is where my education and preparation leave and reality hits like a brick. In a few hours I will visit a homeless shelter in downtown Columbus, Ohio where I will meet the very people I have learned about. I don't have expectations so I did not prepare questions. I am relying on my gut. And right now my gut tells me that what I have learned thus far only brushes the surface.

I am here to give this problem a face. It's about time someone does. We are all in a bubble and the only thing that can pop it is a story: one that is true, gut-wrenching and unbelievable.

The Why

I was first introduced to the homeless my freshman year at Ohio University in Sociology and Anthropology 101 classes. We learned the basics here and even read a book. It more so fell in the lines of a case study, not a first hand account. I made sociology my specialization hoping to learn more. I didn't. 

It was the same facts and statistics in every class. During the winter months I thought I would at least see some kind of media coverage boasting advocacy for the homeless. Four years later, I haven't. The lack of coverage has led me to believe that our society is doing an incredible injustice to these men, women and children by doing nothing.

Under the guise of alcoholism, mental illness and drug addiction it has become easy for us to to look internally and blame the individual instead of outwardly at our stereotypes and institutions for blame. It is easier to turn a blind eye this way.

Although this project might not get anywhere it is my hope that it does. If not, it serves as a symbol for what needs to be done to reveal the truth. Most importantly, we all need to be advocates.

The National Coalition for the Homeless has a great article describing how difficult it is to develop black and white statistics. This piece is a little technical but just skim under each subheading and you can easily gather the most important points.