Sunday Not With John: It's Not From A Lack Of Effort

When I found out I had to do an internship for my graduate program I rolled my eyes at the extra work. After I got over my pity party, and I can throw a good pity party, I got down to deciding where I wanted to intern. I had helped inner city youth in a summer and after school program, I had spent a ton of time working with abused teens, and the last two years I have helped dependant adults. I wanted to learn about a new population, understand a new social problem better, and develop my helping skills with new people. I settled on interning at a local homeless shelter, and specifically in the department of finding employment. It has been rocking my world in so many ways.

I had all the stupid held beliefs about how easy it must be to locate a job, and I have even worked in the field for years. In my first two weeks, I learned I knew exactly nothing about being homeless and what it takes to secure employment. I have assisted in filling out more applications than I can remember, and I have witnessed they dejection on so many faces after not receiving even a call for an interview. Our little room is a packed house every day with no open computers. It’s not a steady stream of different people, it’s the same group of people day in and day out asking for help, attempting to contribute to society, and wanting any job and I mean any job, to jump start their life. You keep your hopes high and determination on point after two and half weeks of hearing no 100 times.  

I have learned their names, and I have had to explain to them I’m not a sir everyday, and now I’m apart of of their story. After two weeks, I know it’s not easy. I know they have a long road ahead, but most importantly I know it’s not from a lack of effort or character default.  All those preconceived notions about the homeless population you hold, I challenge you to spend a day, heck two hours, with anyone who is homeless. You will not be able to walk away having those stupid beliefs. You will walk away thinking about a lot, but you will most certainly stop thinking it’s from a lack of effort on their part. It’s hard to pull up your boot stings when you don’t have any boots.