I was always scared of homeless people.
The ragged clothes. The odor. The crazed expressions. As a child, I would stare at them and pick up my pace a little.
This attitude is easy to adopt and hard to shake. On your first few days as a Penn student, the mentality is reinforced. We all know the maxims and anecdotes: Don’t wander too far past 40th. Always travel in groups. Remember, a girl got shot a few years back.
This isn’t to say that Maureen Rush and the good people at the Department of Public Safety don’t have the best intentions. We don’t live in Ithaca or Hanover. It is no coincidence that Penn has the fourth largest private police force in the nation.
However, it is wrong to assume that homeless people are our enemies (especially when our “allies” seem indistinguishable).
We, as Penn students, should occasionally climb down from our Ivory Tower and take advantage of our unique environment. West Philadelphia should serve as a constant reminder of the harsh realities of the real world. There are an estimated 25,000 homeless people in Philadelphia, roughly half from West Philly.
So next time you’re walking down 40th, say hey to Marcus outside of FroGro. (He prefers pepperoni.) Or don’t just ignore the homeless guy outside of Wawa like he is solicitor on Locust Walk. Ask him about his life. Buy him a F’real milkshake. He may tell you that he’s a former vet suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (or just a hangover from the 60’s). You may even learn more than you did all semester in Econ. (Don’t get me wrong. Be prudent and use common sense.)
The homeless are not only hungry, but lonely. In an interview with the Inquirer, Yolanda Radzewicz, a 55 year old homeless woman, said, “The most I could ask is for people to stop making judgments … instead of stopping and talking to me … and learning who I am and why I’m out here.”
Sure, you may not be able to put “Occasionally converses with homeless people” on your resume, but you could still make someone’s life more meaningful while learning an invaluable lesson.
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February 27th, 2008 at 1:15 am
this really is a great message….I totally agree with this and I think we all could be a little kinder to one another
February 27th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
I’m all for being kind to people, but most of the panhandlers we see around campus are not homeless. Many work their ‘job’ seven days a week, make decent money, and have an apartment/home. Although we should treat them with respect, giving them money or talking to them on the street will not solve any problem. If you really want to help the homeless, go to a homeless shelter where the truly homeless spend time. Those are the people who could really use a friend.
http://lamp.dailypennsylvanian.com/thespin/?p=338
February 29th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
In response to your comment Dan, I think you clearly missed the point at hand. Vaughn is not proposing we solve a “problem” as your blog states but rather that penn students can learn a lot from these people.