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During my time in Ireland, I decided that I wanted to try to volunteer. I've always been interested in the plight of homeless people: how people become homeless, how do they survive, what are the stereotypes of homeless people and are they true?
My heart breaks when I see a homeless person asking for money on a street corner, and living in a city, you see that everyday. But then there is always the debate, well will they just use your money to go buy alcohol and drugs?
I honestly don't know. But I also don't think it's our place to judge that. We especially can't judge those outside of the faith. God can be the One to judge. He is the One who is omnipotent after all.
And how much am I really going to miss that loose change in my purse? Whether that homeless person uses it for alcohol or not, I'm not the worse off without it. But he might be that much better off with it.
God calls us to love. To love Him, and to love His creation. Who did Jesus spend most of His time with here on earth? It wasn't those who were socially considered to be the "right" kind of people. If so, he would have been hanging out with what we now see as the over-legalistic Sadducees and Pharisees. No, he spent time with prostitutes and tax-collectors. The lowest of the low. The poorest of the poor.
It's hard to see that God calls us to do the same. It's hard to step outside of our comfort zone. And it's not any easier for me, even though in my head, I know these people need my help and deserve my compassion.
So now I volunteer for an organization called Depaul Ireland, which runs several homeless shelters. The homeless shelter I work at is called a "wet hostel," meaning the residents are allowed to consume alcohol while they live there.
It's an interesting, innovative approach to combat homelessness that is also controversial. Most homeless shelters turn away the people Depaul Ireland accept. But maybe those are the people who need our help the most? Depaul puts their residents on a drinking plan and controls the amount of alcohol they consume every day. Their belief is that you have to lower the threshold and work with these people, understanding that alcoholism is a disease, instead of talking down to them.
My responsibilities are administrative work. I don't work directly with the residents, because you need a police background check, and I am not here long enough to really build relationships with them. But I have witnessed their interactions with other residents and volunteers.
It's so upsetting to see people get to the level that these residents are at. They do nothing with their lives except drink. It's amazing the lack of motor skills, daily functions, and mental capabilities they have. I saw one woman struggling to put gloves on without the help of a volunteer. Another had to be told to "hold it in" before she made it to the bathroom to pee. You have to coax them into taking a shower, and they wreak of alcohol and cigarette smoke.
My best summarization of them is they are honestly just "out of it." They really have no sense of how normal people live, what is socially acceptable, or what to even do with their lives. I hear the worst racist slurs being thrown at people, and fights over the most childish things. It's so sad to see people get like this. You just think: you all are supposed to be adults.
It's also extremely discouraging at times. You know that most of these people are so far gone that they will never leave this wet hostel, and they will be alcoholics for the rest of their lives. I feel suffocated at times with the smell of alcohol and cigarette around me. I feel dirty being surrounded by dirty people, and it makes me wish I could be back in my nice, professional office in Parliament, where everyone wears suits and greets you with a smile.
But there are the success stories. Like the men who sober up and are living in apartments on their own. And I also know this is meant to be an eye opening experience for me, and it's forcing me outside of my comfort zone.
I don't know what the answer is to help these people. But I thank God for people who have the patience to show them love and compassion day in and day out.
And I wouldn't have known any of this, if I hadn't stepped outside of my own little world.
Stopped at a red light looked out my window
Saw a cardboard sign said "Help this homeless widow"
Above that sign was the face of a human
I asked to myself "God, what have I been doing?"
So I rolled down the window and I looked her in the eye
Oh how many times have I just passed her by?
So I gave her some money then I drove on through
And my own little world reached
Population two
Blog post title - My Own Little World by Matthew West
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