Imagine for a second you have no place to live. No job to go to. No roots. Imagine for a second that other people don’t want you around.

Imagine you get trucked around and but you’re not given any choice. You make a camp and are asked to leave. The peace officers will actually

Confiscate your things if you don’t. They tear down your camp and trash everything.

Meanwhile you’ve done everything you could to gather what you could to feel some sort of sense of home. Maybe an agency gave you a sleeping bag, or tent.

Maybe you’ve even managed to keep an outfit or two of clothing. All gone again. Starting over again with literally nothing.

And people still don’t want you around.

“Not in my neighbourhood”.

Meanwhile you don’t have a neighbourhood. Or a home. Or roots.

You get blamed for crime rates and garbage and social disorder. You’re just trying to survive. People don’t understand how hard it is to not belong somewhere. You miss your family. You miss your kids, you feel unworthy of their presence. How can anyone love you.

You’re lonely

All the time. Scared all the time. Surviving every second of the day. Making it through.

And it’s getting colder. And it’s getting harder to keep moving. Maybe you turn to drugs or alcohol to numb the pain of everyday.

Maybe you’ve never belonged to anyone. Or any place.

Maybe you’re tired. Maybe for once you just want to not have to live through hard challenges and have a break from your everyday.

Maybe one day you stop caring. No one cares about you why should you bother. Why should you give a crap about a society that puts so many

Barriers to you moving out of homelessness. Maybe you get angry. You feel ignored. Unimportant. Discarded.

You need a shower. God you wish you could shower. You have to put on dirty clothes after that. But at least you can feel clean for a min.

If you have a home I hope you understand the privilege of this. People without homes are scared all the time. The elements. Authorities. Other people. Scared of not finding food, not finding money to buy food.

Imagine for a minute the other side.