e l p o Pe the of reets St
By Gordon Hight
“Can you help me? Please?” His tender and sincere “please” still rings in my head weeks later. Out for an afternoon photowalk, I’d angled down the hill from my West Hollywood apartment building and turned south along the boulevard. As I made the corner, I saw him, a man in a light grey sweatsuit lying against the concrete base of the Trader Joe’s. He sat in bright sunlight between pockets of shade offered up by a nearby palm trees. Gently, he held up a white, styrofoam cup and asked me those humble questions in his raspy, exasperated voice. In the moment, I’m ashamed to say I buckled. I struggled to make eye contact. I didn’t slow my pace. I gave him nothing except for the lie that I had nothing to give. I was unnerved, not because I felt threatened, but because of deep uncertainty. I was torn between wanting to help and wanting to keep a safe distance. Risky encounters with strangers do happen, but this was not one of them. I had it in my head, however irrational and selfish, that if I spoke kindly or gave him something, anything, that he’d only want more. My mistake was one of ignorance. I allowed the voice of baseless apprehension to dictate my decisions to lie and walk on past. It’s not that I see myself as a savior; I’m certainly not. But I do believe in loving others as ourselves and it
50
March 2020
pains me that for no reason at all, I treated him not like the human he is, but like a stray animal. He deserved better. The key to doing better is education. So, in the weeks since, I’ve made efforts to shed my ignorance and get educated about homelessness. I’ve spoken with people in the city government. I’ve spoken with people who live here. And I’ve spent time reading material provided by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, LAHSA. I’ve learned that there are many myths about homelessness which contribute to misunderstandings like mine. Many of those misconceptions deal with its root causes. Homelessness has many contributing factors, and while far from an exhaustive list, it can arise from difficulty transitioning out of foster
care, medical facilities, the criminal justice system, and military service. Some suffer from drug or alcohol addiction, but they are a minority (29% of the 36,300 homeless population in Los Angeles). Mental illness can factor in too. The major factor, however, is economic: housing affordability. As is the case
