As mentioned in our earlier Brief, how folks end up homeless is extremely complex, it’s not just due to one or two factors. Folks like to assume things this way and that way, like their drug addiction, or mental health condition, or simply being lazy criminals puts them out on the streets. Sure, this sort of view alleviates responsibility, right? We can just kick back and lounge on the “Bystander Effect.”
You know, where bystanders think someone else will address the crisis, while a woman in NY gets stabbed to death, while others within hearing range underestimate the gravity of her plea for help.
To start off today’s brainstorming session, we offer this bystander phenomenon as another root cause for our homeless crisis.
Cabin for lost souls: by Uncle Tim Roy
Meanwhile, waiting for your tax dollars to resolve the issue is just nuts! And yes, this is systemic as well – social scientists often view a group of people as a system of interpersonal dynamics. Oops, sorry Bill, a bit out there!
Let’s take a peek at a few things. Your tax dollars are already being used to heat and maintain many thousands of empty government owned buildings. What, just open the doors and let them in? Of course not, we have liability issues, criminal issues, supervision issues, and so on. Sounds like we could use a social anthropologist to boot, you know, the boots on the ground. How about grounds for field studies – research?
A young man’s roots go back to the indigenous people from the area of his childhood home. Some blood trickles inside too. Three generations later, the young man’s trials and tribulations land him unhoused, while houses, once family owned, are empty and for sale. These roots are from back in childhood and struggles within family dysfunction. A possible genetic malady may factor in too. Self-defeating attempts to self-medicate an undiagnosed bipolar disorder earned his badge of honor: a drunken drug addict! Then, after a dozen years of sobriety, guess what? Wow, low and behold, there was an adjunct disability rendering this now middle-aged man in need of assistance to function in a healthy social manner.
Well, some never forget that badge of honor and continue holding on to their delusional perspective of a hopeless, permanently damaged, addiction disordered creature. In grade school, he wins first place in an art contest, only to be accused of fraudulently tracing his work. Traumatized in Mother Superior’s office by the allegations and later rectified after adults realized they were misinterpreting the words copy and trace, the little guy was redeemed. His earned award was validated by the principal’s thorough research investigation; and he vowed to never share his artistic drawing talent again. Shame on the shamers.
It continues on this way for a lifetime, one talent suppressed after another, because of blind envious falsehoods, bogus assumptions, and pure myopia. After the best forensic psychologist, Dr. Ball, a top shelf psychiatrist, Dr. Kafka, and years of many professional therapists and self-help groups, they get this guy up and running straight. He earns all the highest academic degrees possible. Still though, some wish only to recognize that earlier misleading badge of honor and he is ousted – homeless, with wife and teen-aged daughter during the coldest days of winter. Shame on the shamers.
Thank you very much Ms. Emily for gracing us with another fantastic drawing.
Doc once asked his eldest, “do you know why some people don’t like your dad?” She replied, “no dad, tell me.” “Because if they liked me, I’d have to like them back.” Well, my heart goes out to political leaders attempting to govern our communities and befriend voters to hold their elected positions. Talking about being stuck between a rock and a hard place, Mr. Tell just sent over a Globe article highlighting Governor Maura Healey’s plight: caring for our homeless community while catering to our currently housed community. Those still housed are likely to cast stones rather than votes for helping their homeless neighbors. Shame on the shamers!
The Globe article, done quite well, from our perspective, digs deep into the grounds of Shattuck-Frankin Park’s future. Being currently ordained for healthcare purposes, it’s a challenge on either side of the fence. Thank you, Chris Serres! Maybe you’d like to join our research team, we have a promising research project potentially able to address our crisis. Doc reached out to our Governor around the time the ARMOR Program was made available for our HADs (Homeless Addiction Disorders), 2016 area. As Attorney General back then, maybe she figured Doc was Mother Superior’s artist. We are still very interested in helping our HADs, which means helping our community leaders: locally, state-wise, and nationally. Leave a comment and help a homeless person.
In closing this Brief, Author Richard’s work of art above – his dog Misty, tells a similar tale, according to Doc anyway. Like, what’s going on with all these unhoused people? See it in her eyes? Is somebody going to address their needs? Boy, am I glad to be a dog! Listening to the words of active addiction is nearly fruitless, Doc reiterates often. Learning to read facial expressions, body motions, and hand gestures is imperative to communicate accurately. It’s your only hope of establishing a dynamic that informs a design that heals.
The unhoused etiology is rooted in much more than our economic system and yes, this “how” is a complex entanglement of confusion and wonder. Hopefully a better understanding of “how” is on your horizon, because like roots hidden underground, reasons people end up unhoused may be closer to your heart than you surmise. Please comment and join us for more brainstorming and dialogue of potential solutions. Next month, we discuss the ideology behind “Housing First” … what is it, why is it important, and how might it be approached?
Homelessness can build resilience, stamina, different Perspectives, understanding and courage! Courage to say yes Im going through hardship but hardships don’t last with support from others and self! What/how do they say “home is where the heart is” ..