I learned so many things from the challenge that naming all
of them would take forever but one thing I learned that I didn’t think I would
was just how much it actually hurts when someone doesn’t recognize you as a
human being. I can honestly say I have never experienced indifference on a
level like that before. Also how low you feel when you are shut out by society
and no one wants anything to do with you. Something connected to this that my
guide Andre told me was that many people do not become homeless because of drug
use, but start using when they become homeless to deal with the pain and loneliness.
This shocked me because it never had occurred to me how lonely being homeless
actually is/must be. Before this challenge I was just like any other member of
the housed society; I always saw homeless people but never acknowledged them
because it is a social taboo and like most people, I didn’t know what to do. Many
don’t know how to address homeless people and I learned that we should just
speak like we normally would to any other person. We should not let the stigma
against the homeless population dictate who we come in contact with and connect
with, because we are truly just shutting ourselves out. After participating in the challenge my
outlook has completely turned around, I learned that we should not be afraid of
homeless people because people are just that; simply people. There is nothing
in the world that makes any housed person immune from being homeless. Anybody could end up on the streets; it
just takes a series of unfortunate events. I also did a lot of self-reflection during the
challenge and realized that I was never truly afraid of the people that were
homeless but society itself. I think what scared me most was what society could
have possibly done to put someone in a situation like not having a place in
world. I don’t think I wanted to acknowledge that. These are just some of the
insights that I learned from my one day on the homeless challenge but I will
take these insights with me for the rest of my life.
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