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A Word of Introduction to Simply Hopeless

In this blog we touch briefly on a subject many never have to grasp or understand, that is hopelessness. Even in our darkest days, hope rarely leaves us who have homes, jobs, warm beds, and food.  Yes we can go through dark times, grief, loss and struggle, but the gut wrenching pit of despair called hopelessness, no. However the homeless deal with it on a daily basis and it is the number 1 fatal disease on the streets. No hope for a better tomorrow. What can we do to restore hope even if it is just for one day for one ‘housing challenged’ person?

Simply Hopeless, I have Surrendered All

Hope, expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen, note the simplicity of that definition,, and yet just how profound it really is, when it comes to life and death on the streets. All they can hope for is kindness, maybe food, and maybe not to be arrested for sitting still to long. A desire for a certain thing, to get off the streets, that is a real hope, that requires many hands.  

As I stated earlier when help and hope is not found an end will come or the cycle will be engrafted, when the help is absent and the hand up is not found this is the most common and very sad end of the cycle.  And its due course often plays out in a given course of events that ends with the person leaving this life early and with their life incomplete. No one is to blame so to speak, yet society is to be held accountable because so many other things are more important than human life.

The society of the old days, my grandma and uncles they knew some folks that made some serious mistakes in life, but they never did up on the streets, that just did not happen.  They had it handled better in the old days, before the government stepped in to ‘help’ and when the church knew her place. Family care for family and the one all alone was never left alone, an auntie to the all the kids, and watched over through the struggles, no stereotypes were allowed. Where those days really that bad?

Hello, greetings, I must relay this to you Howard is gone, he has left us, he is not here anymore.  No, I do not mean that he has passed away or died, that would be to easy and far less painful then what is actually going on.  Howard has surrendered all hope of recovery, of getting off the streets, his soul is surrendered to this battle, his spirit is flickering, and he is sliding into the dangerous ground of hopelessness.  This is when you see the image of homeless that y’all are so used to, it is when they surrender and give in to the hopelessness.

This is where many homeless and needy people get and when this point is reached recovery is rare. It can be likened to quicksand one is told not to fight against the sand, that one must be helped out, but when the help is not there, the help ineffective or under effective, the fight is instinctive although harmful and then the trap is set.

         When you approach the Howard’s of the street community you can see this hopelessness in their eyes, they are blank, dark and empty, hope has faded and so has the ability and willingness to fight for a way out. Howard did not choose this road, life hit him like a category 4 hurricane and when he landed his support systems were gone, his back up plans drained, his savings wiped out and there was nothing left.

Here is the amazing thing, hope does remain as long as there is life in the body, Howard has even said this, but it is a flickering flame, and it can be stoked back to life with good and kind care.

 Hopelessness is the Deadliest illness that stocks humanity and when the fight is on, it is on, and without a kind, compassionate soul to fight for and with you the Howard’s of the street communities will most often not win. And I believe that as the blessed people with homes and resources we have a moral obligation to help in any way possible through responsible giving.

Will You Allow the Cycle to Continue, Hopelessness
OR
Will You Simply Be a Vessel of Restoration

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