I feel that many people view homeless people in a different light. People view homeless people as dishonest because of their own personal experience with homeless people.
In my own personal observation of a homeless person, I have observed this person not trying to help himself. In my opinion I feel that he really doesn’t have to be homeless. He has family that is trying to help him. They may not have a lot of money to give him but they set up appointments and make arrangements for him to talk to people that could help him. If you ask him if he spoke to anyone or went to any of the appointments he’ll say “yes”. Later you find out that he didn’t. This is being dishonest.
Some other people hear stories from friends and relatives or read articles about dishonest homeless people.
A friend of mine shared a story with me that have affected her point of view about homeless people. My friend stated that she does believe that there are people who make a living off of pretending to be homeless. Her feelings came from a story that she heard from a friend of hers. In the story a person who had been observed holding a sign saying “I’m homeless please help”. This same person had been seen standing in the same spot everyday for a span of weeks. One day the “homeless” person was missing from his usual spot. After turning into the parking lot, the “homeless” person was seen getting into the drivers side of a Lexus and driving away.
I feel most people stereotype. It only takes one bad experience or hearing one bad story to change a person’s view about a group of people as a whole.
For example, Dave Tally, an Arizona homeless man, found a backpack earlier this month at a rail station in Tempe. He opened it up, looking for some sort of identification or baggage tag. Inside he found an envelope with $3.300 in cash and a laptop computer.
In the past Dave had made some bad chooses. Drugs and alcohol caused him to loose his home. Dave has been homeless and living on the streets for 11 years. A local charity helped him get clean and sober. He is now a recovering drug addict. Dave was able to move into a shelter which was located in the basement of a local church. Dave’s only means of transportation was his bicycle. He would use it to go to different places looking for work. The bike needed some repairs. When Dave found the money his first thought was that he could use the money to get his bike fixed so he could start looking for work again. He struggled on weather to keep it or find the owner and return it.
He didn’t know what to do. After much thought Dave decided to find the owner and return the money. It wasn’t easy, but he knew it was the right thing to do. He enlisted help from the director of the shelter. They found the owner of the backpack which turned out to be a college student. The money was to be used for him to get a car. Bryan Belanger was very grateful that he was able to get his money back. He came and thanked Dave in person. He was so moved with what Dave had done he has decided to pay it forward. Bryan now volunteers at the shelter where Dave stays.
People from different states heard of Dave’s integrity and honesty. Dave started receiving donations from Seattle, Dallas, and Tennessee. Dave received enough money to get his bike fixed. Now he is able to start looking for a full time job. Dave did a great thing that day when he decided to return the money. He was homeless and could have used the money, but he followed his heart. I believe that doors will start to open for Dave and he won’t be among the homeless population anymore. An honorable act that is now paying off.
There are some homeless people that are dishonest. There are homeless people that may have fallen on hard times for a period in their lives, but still continues to hold themselves to a higher standard and always try to do the right thing. Dave is one of those people.
Blackburn, B. (2010, November 19). Person of week: Arizona homeless man Dave Tally turns in lost backpack with $3,300. Homeless Tempe, Arizona. ABC News. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from: http://abcnews.go.com/US/PersonOfWeek/arizona-homeless-man-turns-lost-backpack-3300/story?id=12191814.
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