“I HAD TO BE HOMELESS TO QUALIFY FOR DENTAL CARE, AND I HAD TO GET THAT DONE WHILE I WAS HOMELESS.” Marine vet Mark Lalik has a suggestion, “The military has a manual for everything, why not a manual for how to navigate your benefits?” he asks. Homeless advocates all across the country say we need to raise awareness and make homelessness a national priority—to think of it as a national epidemic, which it is. To allow millions of people to live outside, including our disabled and chronically ill veterans, and not attacking the problem with a national focus and fervor, is a disgrace. We have come to accept homelessness as a necessary evil in this society and we make excuses for why we are not able to eradicate it, or even handle it better than we do. End the laws that persecute homeless people. Create safe spaces. There are ways to move forward together, starting with the process of re-humanizing homeless people. We can do better and we must do better.
Anthony Mark Happel is a freelance writer, filmmaker and parttime semiotician. He also plays guitar and sings in Navajo Ace.
JANUARY 2022 | 11
