Frugaling

Save more, live well, give generously

  • Home
  • Start Here
  • Popular
    • Archives
  • Recommended
  • Contact
  • Save Money
    • Lifestyle Downgrade
    • Save Money with Mindfulness
    • Save at Starbucks
    • Psychological Trick To Reduce Your Online Shopping
    • Best Freebies
  • Minimalism
    • 8 TED Talks To Become A Minimalist
    • We Rent This Life
    • Everything Must Go
    • Lifestyle Downgrade
    • The Purchase Paradox: Wanting, Until You Own It
    • Nothing In My Pockets
  • Social Justice
    • Destroy The 40-Hour Workweek
    • Too Poor To Protest: Income Inequality
    • The New Rich: How $250k A Year Became Middle Class
    • Hunter Gatherers vs. 21st Century Desk-sitters
  • Make Money
    • Make $10k in 10 Months
    • Monetize Your Blog
    • Side Hustle for Serious Cash
  • Loans
    • 5 Rules To Follow Before Accepting Student Loans
    • Would You Marry Me?
    • Should I Have a Credit Card If I’m In Debt?
    • $50k in Scholarships in 70 Minutes

Stop Dehumanizing The Poor, Homeless

By Frugaling 16 Comments

Share This:

Anti-Homeless Spikes Hostile Architecture Photo
This is an anti-homeless spike in London, England.

The last couple weeks I’ve suffered from intense writer’s block. My mind has been focused on something more important than this site (sorry, frequent readers!): graduate school. Part of my role as a doctoral student requires gaining experience counseling others. This year I’ve acquired a spot at the local homeless shelter. It’s forever changed my understanding of homelessness and the financial concerns/distress they face.

Prior to working at a homeless shelter, my perspective was naive and simple. Generally, I felt for them and wondered how I could most help. Whenever I spoke with friends, I talked about how we should help people like this. Sometimes I gave pocket change or a cup of coffee to someone on these streets. But despite a couple moments in high school as a soup kitchen volunteer, I had never taken the time to serve/help the most vulnerable in America. That bothered me.

I’ve been at the homeless shelter for about a month now. The experience is different every day, and because it’s related to the practice of counseling psychology, I can’t say much about it due to confidentiality. What I can speak to is that the people I’ve met smashed my preconceived notions and gave me a framework for understanding how someone gets there.

This great country heralds a flawed understanding of success and path to achievement. Basically, we oversimplify the rules of society and deliver a soundbyte to a highly complex idea: work hard and you’ll succeed. This is a disservice to everyone; the fortunate and suffering, alike.

We have resources in this country that help young adults, but they don’t guarantee success. The world needs to receive this message — not only our country. This meritocracy claim is flawed. The importance and reliance on hard work, self-motivation, and personal responsibility are beautiful aspirations, but they don’t adequately account for the many variables that attack individuals’ abilities.

Trust me. There are cracks in society, and people fall through them. I’ve seen it in the flesh. Medical bills from horrific accidents can pile up, leaving someone unable to work or transport themselves. The financial burdens can quickly engulf any hope for personal dreams. When I ask most people what they’d like to do if they could choose something, most answer that they just want a decent job — that pays the bills. That’s all.

See, the American dream is dead for many in this disenfranchised group. They’ve been kicked around from home to home, job to job, bill to bill, with little support. When I ask this privileged question about dream vocations, they can’t answer. It hurts to hear, but I can empathize with how they got there.

Hard work, self-motivation, and personal responsibility don’t account for death, abuse, domestic violence, psychological illness, and disabilities (to name a few). Each of these unaccounted for variables are swept under the rug, and personal finance websites often miss this target population entirely. Hell, most homeless people have severely restricted access to computers. Many need to go to public libraries to access the Internet — and only for short periods of time. Moreover, I can’t imagine many of them venturing on to personal finance websites because their problems are more fundamental.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was introduced in 1943. The pyramidal structure postulated that individuals move through a process of needs, ultimately getting to “self-actualization.” If all your needs were met, you could feel secure, safe, and self-confident. Unfortunately for the most vulnerable, creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving skills are reserved for states in the highest level of the hierarchy. When basic needs such as food and shelter are of concern — worrying about where the next meal comes from — it can be challenging to imagine personal finance questions or plan for that dream job. Despite the psychological understanding and history for the hierarchy, society largely ignores it.

Boasting on and on about complex ideals in American society, we can become inured and desensitized to the struggles of these people. I’m a firm believer that we naturally want to help others. But with homeless people, we seem to make exceptions. For instance, I’ve heard many say, “I would donate or give change, but they’ll probably just buy drugs and alcohol.” I’ve seen parents squeeze their children tighter, as they pass a homeless man. Most people that see a sign and cup pass without glancing — purposely avoiding eye contact. Society allows this dehumanization. That’s considered normal and okay. Who else in society can be so easily cast aside?

With psychological dissatisfaction directed towards the most vulnerable, society can sometimes get creatively disturbing. For instance, The Guardian recently profiled a horrific rise in anti-homeless architecture:

“…stainless steel ‘anti-homeless’ spikes…appeared outside a London apartment block recently, the benches are part of a recent generation of urban architecture designed to influence public behaviour, known as ‘hostile architecture’.”

That simple quote doesn’t do justice for the medieval constructions. From silver daggers that prevent curb-sitting to park benches with added breaks to prevent laying down, this design destroys comfort for those with nowhere else to go.

Today, I’m here to say that it’s not okay that we tell people, “You get what you deserve.” We need to deconstruct these faults and create an inclusive, collective, supportive society. It hurts everyone when we demonize and destroy the most vulnerable. In fact, it’s cheaper to give homeless people shelter, food, health care, and job training, instead of doing nothing.

As an avid writer and reader of personal finance blogs, we have a ways to go before we meet this population’s needs. How can you make a difference?

Filed Under: Social Justice Tagged With: American Dream, anti-homeless, debt, Finance, homeless, hostile architecture, Maslow, Personal Finance, poor, poverty

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Subscribe

Best Of

  • The New Rich: How $250k A Year Became Middle Class
    The New Rich: How $250k A Year Became Middle Class
  • 8 TED Talks That Will Inspire You To Become A Minimalist
    8 TED Talks That Will Inspire You To Become A Minimalist
  • Debt Is The Illusion Of Success
    Debt Is The Illusion Of Success
  • Who Are Your Financial Role Models?
    Who Are Your Financial Role Models?
  • This Statistic On Greed Will Shock You: Have Less? You'll Give More.
    This Statistic On Greed Will Shock You: Have Less? You'll Give More.
  • Is Frozen Juice Cheaper?
    Is Frozen Juice Cheaper?

Recent Posts

  • How to Pay Off Medical Debt
  • 5 Ways to Save Money Before a New Baby
  • 4 Ways to Save Money on Streaming Services
  • 5 Ways to Save Thousands in Mortgage Interest
  • Why Professional Maintenance on Your Vehicle Saves You Money in the Long Run

Search

Archives

  • January 2023 (1)
  • March 2022 (3)
  • February 2022 (2)
  • November 2021 (1)
  • October 2021 (2)
  • August 2021 (4)
  • July 2021 (5)
  • June 2021 (3)
  • May 2021 (2)
  • January 2021 (2)
  • December 2020 (2)
  • October 2020 (2)
  • September 2020 (1)
  • August 2020 (3)
  • June 2020 (1)
  • May 2020 (2)
  • April 2020 (1)
  • February 2020 (2)
  • January 2020 (1)
  • December 2019 (1)
  • November 2019 (5)
  • September 2019 (4)
  • August 2019 (1)
  • June 2019 (1)
  • May 2019 (1)
  • April 2019 (1)
  • March 2019 (3)
  • February 2019 (1)
  • January 2019 (3)
  • December 2018 (1)
  • September 2018 (2)
  • July 2018 (1)
  • June 2018 (2)
  • May 2018 (1)
  • April 2018 (5)
  • March 2018 (6)
  • February 2018 (4)
  • January 2018 (1)
  • December 2017 (10)
  • November 2017 (3)
  • July 2017 (2)
  • June 2017 (5)
  • May 2017 (2)
  • April 2017 (8)
  • March 2017 (4)
  • February 2017 (3)
  • January 2017 (2)
  • December 2016 (2)
  • November 2016 (4)
  • October 2016 (2)
  • September 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (4)
  • July 2016 (1)
  • June 2016 (3)
  • May 2016 (3)
  • April 2016 (4)
  • March 2016 (5)
  • February 2016 (2)
  • January 2016 (2)
  • December 2015 (3)
  • November 2015 (5)
  • October 2015 (5)
  • September 2015 (4)
  • August 2015 (6)
  • July 2015 (8)
  • June 2015 (6)
  • May 2015 (14)
  • April 2015 (14)
  • March 2015 (13)
  • February 2015 (12)
  • January 2015 (15)
  • December 2014 (10)
  • November 2014 (5)
  • October 2014 (6)
  • September 2014 (7)
  • August 2014 (12)
  • July 2014 (11)
  • June 2014 (12)
  • May 2014 (16)
  • April 2014 (13)
  • March 2014 (13)
  • February 2014 (9)
  • January 2014 (20)
  • December 2013 (9)
  • November 2013 (18)
  • October 2013 (15)
  • September 2013 (11)
  • August 2013 (11)
  • July 2013 (27)
  • June 2013 (18)
  • May 2013 (16)

Best Of

  • The New Rich: How $250k A Year Became Middle Class
  • 8 TED Talks That Will Inspire You To Become A Minimalist
  • Debt Is The Illusion Of Success

Recent Posts

  • How to Pay Off Medical Debt
  • 5 Ways to Save Money Before a New Baby
  • 4 Ways to Save Money on Streaming Services

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2023 · Modern Studio Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in