Homelessness is a reality we see every day. There are several countervailing ideas on why homelessness is so prevalent in our society. The average conservative sees homelessness as a result of poor individual choices and inferior abilities. Liberal thinkers such as myself note the events that lead to homelessness and the socioeconomic imbalances that lead to a life on the streets. Homelessness cannot be equated to bad personal decisions. People become trapped in this perpetual cycle of poverty that leads to poverty and homelessness.
There is an opposing and overlapping view of humanity shared by social Darwinists and conservatives. They embrace the notion that some people are less fortunate for a reason. They believe that people of inferior morals, genes and values will ultimately be the losers in society. They shift the blame from society itself to the individual and see homelessness as the result of some deviant behavior (McGinnis 210). These notions are not typically the case though. Thomas O"Reilly Fleming tells the tale of a young man named "Jack" that is your average 24 year old. Jack was a hard working young man who at 18 was married with a mortgage and children (Fleming 238). This appears to be a pretty productive member of society. Jack sadly has a series of events that can be seen as the reason he is now homeless. "My wife left me . Pretty soon I couldn't pay the bills and didn't care anymore. I lost everything and now I am here"(Fleming 238). This is the same story that is told day after day to social workers across the country. Homeless people are not all deviants but individuals who have had a severely adverse series of events take place in their lives. .
People tend to want to label the homeless. This is dangerous because it shifts the blame on the individual. It seems to justify their position in society as being a result of their own abnormal life choices, which is simply not the case.