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November 8th, 2015 
Awake Goy Homelessness is an evidently apparent issue in cities all over the world. As I recently shared in another article I wrote on the subject, according to the Covenant House -Canada’s largest homeless youth agency -there are at least 10,000 young adults homeless during a given year in the city of Toronto alone (where CE is based), with an estimated 30,000 Canadians being homeless every night.
Unfortunately most of us aren’t in a position to financially assist all of those in need, but there is still a form of assistance we can provide. The type of assistance I am referring to is a shift in our perspective towards the homeless.
Think about it. How often do you find yourself not only judgemental of those in need, but also afraid of them? We’ve condemned their situation so strongly that many of us struggle to even give them the most basic forms of respect that no matter their situation, a respect that they truly deserve as a fellow human being.
This shift may not seem as beneficial as monetary assistance, but as we firsthand learned during our homeless food handout in October of 2014, it may be exactly what they are looking for. Several of the individuals we took the time to speak to revealed that it was human interaction that they missed the most, with very few strangers being willing to even make eye contact with them.
As much as we may like to make assumptions about those in need, the truth is that we do not know their story or their situation, and they do not deserve to be subject to our expectations. This point is exemplified even further by a single dad who finds himself newly homeless with his son on the streets of Denver, Colorado.
British author and TV host Leon Logothetis, met up with this man as part of the #GoBeKind Tour, and filmed his story to show us the real reason he is homeless. Check it out:
We All Have A Story
No matter our current situation, we all have a story that brought us there. A story that not only deserves to be heard but also to be respected as unique.
If any of us would have passed James on the street, either now or several months into homelessness we would be quick to assume what brought him there. We’d also likely be quick to see him as irresponsible for bringing his young son into the situation with him. But as Leon’s interview revealed James’s situation is a byproduct of an undying love for his son.
He wants to give his son the childhood he feels that he deserves and is willing to face whatever hardship necessary to help give it to him.
We All Want To Help
As admirable as Leon’s gesture of $1000 and a 7-night stay in a local hotel is, what particularly stood out to me about this interview were the comments on YouTube below it.
We often see this world as unloving and uncaring, but when presented with a story that touches our hearts we quickly reveal our inherent loving and assisting nature. Comments such as:
– Leon how can we help James?
– let’s find James!! so he can set up a gofundme. people want to help
– This is such a touching story and the way he just stays positive through it all, is just so inspiring to the rest of us. I pray that he finds a place to live in for him and his baby.
These were just a few of many that you can go through for yourself to renew your faith in humanity. What’s even more incredible is that these demands were met, as a gofundme page was set-up and has already surpassed its goal of $20,000 in just 2 days!
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Let this video encourage you to let go of any preconceptions you may have of the homeless, and also let it inspire you of the impact we can all make in this world.
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