Why can’t they just pull themselves up by their boot straps?

An old proverb says “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”  In this case it doesn’t help to try and teach someone to fish if they do not want to be a fisherman.  We can’t force our will on others even though we wish we could.

There are two segments of the homeless community. There are people who can’t accept their circumstances and the ones that do. In the first group sinking into homelessness is unacceptable and they feel shame and desperation. Those people will not be homeless for long. 
 

The second group would be termed chronically homeless. They are resilient people that adjust to their circumstance and accept their situation as the new normal. They simply can’t follow social expectations and choose be free with the ability to make their own decisions regardless of what others may want for them. 

There are a multiple of reasons that lead people into this situation. In my opinion, the underlying theme of the chronically homeless revolves around a  unwillingness or an inability to follow social expectations. Some people are followers of the flock and some people would rather have the freedom to make their own choices. 

There is an interesting truth I discovered by watching people. They can’t see their problems and they may not want to change their habits as much as you want this for them. It is our life choices that create our reality. Just because people end up in life situations they do not like it does not mean they want to or have the cognizance do anything about it. 

People can’t change what they do not acknowledge. There are alcoholics and drug addicts in the world that do not think they have a problem.  Since they can’t see it then it is not likely they will make choices to do anything differently.  Think of all the smokers in the world that hate coughing and have difficulty breathing but don’t want to quit smoking. This simple truth holds true in all segments of society. 

There is a strange irony that people can become homeless when they lack structure in their lives to follow the herd and to do as told. The one thing that might pull  them out of their situation is agreeing to a structured life by following the herd and doing as they are told. They resist the very thing that may help them such as a social program willing to address their specific personal issues.  People who are chronically homeless desire their freedom and resist submitting this control over to anyone.  They do not want to be treated like children.

The most interesting thing of all is to watch what people do with their freewill. The homeless people I observed find ways to plan, organize and structure their world. They will create shelter, appoint leaders, manifest electricity, find ways to cook, bath and solve the problems to ensure survival.