Homelessness in America

Homelessness in America

A father was pointing at a homeless person nearby and told his son: “Look at that man Alex, you have to study well or otherwise you will turn out to be like him. You don’t want to him like him, do you?” The son looked at the poor man laying on the street “ No..”. Naturally, the father has assumed that the homeless person was a result of failure in life. For most of us, homelessness has become an example of being unsuccessful or unfortunate, not a choice. However, there is a reason behind the homeless we see on the street everyday.

An American dream is a dream of a land with opportunities and chances. Our country is assumed to be so full with opportunities that anyone works hard enough can be successful. Therefore, those who on the street are simply a result of not working hard . We see the homeless as an individual problem not a social problem. It is their fault for not working hard , therefore, we can ignore them as they are not our problem. Before I started my research about homelessness, like most people, my assumption was narrow and only focus on only a few possibilities and ignore others. The result of street homelessness is not only a matter of failure but also the gap between the American dream and reality.

Just after the Civil War, being homeless or “hobo” was a glorious lifestyle. It portrayed an adventurous life, full of excitement and unexpectedness. They were cowboys who rode rails from towns to towns, looking for new opportunities. It was once a material of every childhood fantasies. However, beginning in the 1890s, economic crisis and shrinking in job opportunities has created a new category for poverty is homelessness. Our country has operated based not just on the existence of competition but also by the mechanism of competition. Competition has become a vital part of our capitalism that poverty and homelessness is believed to be a punishment while privilege wealth is a reward. Poverty and homelessness is described as a result for laziness and deviance; a threat to motivated the society. Homelessness has worked as a fundamental instrument of society.

When we think of the word “homeless”, we often associate with an image of an unclean, drug addict or mental illness person. However, a homeless person are mostly just like every one of us. They are down among the down-town looking fresh and clean. They wear suits and ties, casual wear. You never know