The bottom of the barrel

There are plenty of things to worry about in the modern age, what clothes to wear, which shoes go with what, what should I do when I get a job, who should I marry, how fast does my Internet need to be, how many channels on TV, how big is my credit card debt, which celebrity is sleeping with who, what song is at the top of the charts, where should we spend the holidays, gas car or diesel, some of these questions are universal over time, some not so much, but the one we might take a bit too much for granted is how will I live, and where will I live.

Imagine not having a home. Imagine not having to worry about the curtains, the dishwasher, if that chair blocks the door, the heating or anything of such sort. Having a home does bring a lot of problems, but they should be a lovely chore. A home represents so much of who you are and what you've accomplished in life.

It's a place where you can keep your things so you don't have to carry them around, it's a place to rest and relax. It's a basic need. Housing now is different than it has been. Noone in the western world would like a place without indoor plumbing and a fire place as the only source of heat, but that is how it's been for more time than we've had dining rooms and second bathrooms. What we're used to today is just a blink of an eye of human time. It's more expensive than we'd like to have the things we refer to as being basic. Poverty shows in your lack of electronics and things. Why is it so hard to let go of the things to live a bigger life?

I find the most depressing shows on TV, and yes indeed, I saw one about being homeless, and just like with all my other fears I look straight at it. I wish I couldn't imagine being homeless, it's a curse of the vivid imagination that I can. Yes, I've lived in places too small to fit a goldfish, places where things don't work, places where I had to share space, but I have never been homeless, even if all my belongings have been packed in boxes.

Who do we loathe and avoid in the street? Those who don't seem like "us", those with greasy hair and stone washed jeans, What I learned from the documentary is that it might be even more important for the homeless interviewed to keep up the physical apperance, just to avoid those looks and the stereotypical view of those without homes.

Here I sit in a house with too many rooms. I'm still not satisfied, no, I have too much. My happiest times have always been times of nothings, it made the struggles worth while. From the outside I have a good life, but what do we know about the struggles of others?

I don't think that housing politics is the only explaination for homelessness, but it is more than likely part of it, and it's not the regional politics that's the issue, it's the national one. Also, it has to do with the reluctancy to move to other places here cheap places to live are available. That's how I manage to sit in a house with too many rooms.

A safe and adequate home should not depend on your financial status, it's a human right to feel at home, even if that home just happens to be one room to fit a life into. And no, people without homes don't "have themselves to blame", even though I'm not naive enough to think they themselves didn't have anything to do with it. Sometimes life just doesn't offer the second chances even after we've paid our dues. Hopefully my housing luck will continue even if it means I buy my clothes on sale, watch a TV I was given, have the heat set to low, eat falukorv and toast and only have basic cable.