Why is it that people are afraid of homeless people? I asked Martha that question after witnessing one person after another fearfully look upon a homeless woman (Sabrina) inside the Dothan Post Office Tuesday night.
They walked into the post office like usual, but once they saw Sabrina, they stared at her and quickly walked on by. One woman was so scared that as she walked out the door she kept looking back at Sabrina. She didn't see me walking up to the door. By the time she turned around I was opening the door and she jumped and said that I scared her. She was already scared.
Not one person stopped to see if Sabrina needed help. They just walked past her, mailed their letters and checked their P.O. boxes.
Martha anwswered my question very wisely. She said people are afraid of homeless people because they are afraid of the unknown. That made perfect sense, and I can understand that. Still, it breaks my heart to see the homeless ignored. God loves them just as much as He loves everyone else.
What do you do when you see a homeless person?
Brandon Heath's song "Give Me Your Eyes" has been on my heart for weeks, and I included his video in a previous blog. It's such a great song with a strong message that I wanted to include it again.
God bless.
Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes from Brandon Heath on Vimeo.
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3 comments:
Good point about people ignoring the homeless. I think some people also believe the stereotypes of drug addicts, panhandlers, etc. Also, some people ignore homeless people because they don't want to get messy. Paying attention to them will require time and/or money.
I remember one night at the Enterprise post office when a homeless man (I am assuming he was homeless)...obviously struggling...approached me. It was late I was shipping alot of ebay packages and I felt like he was kinda prowling. I told him that he needed to be careful about approaching people at night in a parking lot with noone around. To me its not a stigma as much as it is a safety issue. I would be curious as to the how Sabrina was handling herself......
I'll tell you something I would like to do. I would like to get a tattered blanket, some fart spray, a disguise, and go act as if I was a homeless person just trying to get some sleep in front of a church. I wonder what kind of response I would get?
That would be interesting. You would probably be ran off at some churches. Probably have the police called on you. I would hope there would be some churches that would help you.
Sabrina was not acting aggressively. She was just sitting on the floor looking scared and confused.
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