When you think about the homeless, what comes to mind....

Do you wonder how they got to this point?

Do you judge?

Do you think about that this could be your friend from grade school, your uncle, your sibling? Or does it feel like that is so far from possible?

Do you blame? Do you attribute the homelessness to drug use? Drinking? Mental Illness?

I have had all the above thoughts, questions and assumptions, but my experience with real people, who happen to be homeless, has been drastic to change my thinking in the past few years.

That is the biggest things about assumptions. They often come when you don't know a REAL person with (often biased) struggles and you assume that they are so different than you. The more I am with people and know them, the more I see our similarities, rather than our differences. I like this. I like people and sharing life with them, and experiences. And being open to their experiences and in sharing my own.

Homelessness. Saturday was the Walk for the Homeless on the National Mall. My agency participated to help raise money and our agency is a benefactor from the fundraising, because we have housing programs to reduce homelessness. So, the topic of homelessness has been more "in my face" than normal in light of this walk and working to raise awareness in DC and the country.

Before the walk, on Friday afternoon, my last meeting of the day was to meet a new family. This is one of my favorite parts of my role. I, along with the case manager on my team, meet for the first time with a child or teen and his/her parent/grandparent/caregiver. A precious family tells us their story. They invite us in. They trust us. Of course, this doesn't always happen immediately, but its a beautiful beginning and I always leave feeling humbled, inspired and changed. I want to always be pliable. I want each story, each life, each family to change me. I have so much to learn.

What timing! This meeting on Friday was at a family shelter in DC. The family has been homeless and now feel fortunate enough to be in a shelter. A shelter that is in the same complex of the DC jail and the DC morgue. It is very odd that all of these entities exist on the same property and very close to one another. We couldn't find the right building, and ended up in the morgue, while trying to find a family shelter. Doesn't that just seem wrong?

As this family welcomed us into their room, which is currently their "home", we sat on the child's bed, and worked to engage an anxious, sad, withdrawn little boy. He is precious. There were so many moments during that hour and a half that broke my heart. My stomach fluttered. My eyes burned, as I resisted tears. We left with hopes to meet this family again next week, inspired from a mother who is a survivor, who is fighting for her family, a young boy who worries about going into foster care because they can't find a place to live (but he doesn't want to leave his family), a teenage girl who helps her little brother with homework every night because their mother can't read....Yet, they sing songs in the dark when they go to sleep (all in the same tiny room at the shelter), they joke and name the mice, which scamper around at night, they plan for the future, they have hope, they dream, they know it can get better, they are thankful to have one another and to have someone to fight for and with against the battles they face. Their trauma and past tragedy felt so real, yet so did their survival and resilience.

As we "walked for homelessness" on the national mall in DC on Saturday, this family was forefront my mind. I can't stop thinking about them. I hope you will have an opportunity to know people in different walks of life than you. That causes like "homelessness" will not be vague crusades, but that you will have a chance to meet real people, to hear stories and see faces that are influenced by homelessness. By mental illness. By HIV and Aids. By poverty. By sexual abuse. By trauma. There are many stories to be told and listeners are needed.

P.S. - I just saw "For Colored Girls". This will be another blog post, when I can refuel my emotional energy. I recommend it highly but it is difficult to watch. Throw off your blinders and open your self to the experiences of others. This is one way to "listen" to someone's story.