Published November 3, 2024

Lately, for all kinds of reasons, I’ve been thinking a lot about having no place to sleep. Shower. Eat. Poop. Relax. Feel safe.

The photo I chose is of the house I grew up in. It had white siding, and its roof’s color was more striking, as I remember it. The house was many years younger. So was I. Can you believe that at one time, I was small enough to crawl around under it?

I look at it from time to time as a reminder of what I was lucky enough to take for granted as a child. A roof over my head. With that in mind, I am not sure that I can say I totally believe this quote.

Nobody wants there to be a million homeless people sleeping in the United States tonight.”

If nobody wanted it, we wouldn’t be moving dangerously close to it. We have the means. We have enough able-bodied people who could do something about it.

Do you know the statistics for your city? Ours are frighteningly high.

But I ask, how many homeless people are too many? One, some would say. The “pull quote” above comes from a story in the local paper, The Columbian. Just think about this headline: ‘We will never arrest our way out of homelessness’: Vancouver panel discusses criminalization.

Greatest country in the world.