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Psychological effects from living in poverty
Prejudice theories
Prejudice theories
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Giving Back How would you feel if you were neglected by society? Do people really believe they are above everyone to the point where they don’t feel the need to give back. If you are in a fortunate position you should give back to those who aren’t. It all began on a Friday night after a rough school week. My family being indecisive as always regarding where to eat ended up going to a pizza place in downtown San Francisco. As soon as we arrived I saw several homeless people, but I didn’t think much of it. I used to think they lived on the streets, because they got caught up in drugs; However, this was not the case. Around 30 minutes goes by were all leaned back in our seats bloated from the amount of pizza we just devoured. Even with how much …show more content…
My mom being the kind generous person she is gave me the idea of giving the pizza to one of the homeless people. As we walked out I saw about 10 different homeless people. There was no way it could feed all of them so I began to look for the best candidate. It didn’t take long till I found the one. There was this 6-foot guy standing with his husky (my favorite dog) I approached him and said, “would you like some pizza?” His face lit up similar to that of a 5- year-old opening their Christmas presents. He repeatedly thanked my family and I and told my parents they raised a good son. IT felt amazing to give back to someone. As we were walking back to our car I noticed a homeless person confront a well-dressed guy. By this time there was some distance from the homeless man and I so I couldn’t hear too clearly. The homeless guy said something along the lines of do you have any spare change. The well-dressed guy responded aggressively, “you have two legs go work for your money. Society nowadays just judges from what they see. I was standing, my blood pressure going up with how mad I was from hearing what the guy said. Moments after this rude obnoxious businessman left I approached the homeless man and ranted about how rude
According to an observation walking down on Market Street in San Francisco, homeless people are almost seen in every corner of the streets. Some would try to earn some money from playing music or even trying to perform a show. When exiting from Embarcadero Bart station, a women is seen at a corner trying to sell things. Things that are old and things like fake jewelries. Some would try to walk up and ask if one might need help with directions and would ask for money later on. In chapter one of "Nickel and Dimed", Barbara wrote a note about her coworkers; about how her coworkers lived. "Gail is sharing a room in a well-known downtown flophouse for $250 a week. [...] Claude, the Haitian cook, is desperate to get out of the two room apartment he shares with his girlfriend and two other, unrelated people." People are living in an apartment, house or a motel with more than one person in order to pay their rent. What would happen if their roommates move out or your boyfriend kicked you out of the house? Where would the person live now that he or she is being kicked out. The person can go to a relative or a friend 's house to stay, however this does not erase the fact that the person is homeless. Being homeless can change a person 's life dramatically, emotionally and
As the number of people living in poverty increases every year, the need for assistance also increases. According to the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness, the national poverty rate reached 13.2% in 2013. This means that one in seven Americans are at risk of suffering from hunger. The increased cost of living and high unemployment rate force about 3.5 million people to make the streets their home (“Overview). Although everyone living in poverty needs assistance, the general public tends to separate the homeless into groups towards whom they should or should not show compassion. In an article for Newsweek magazine, journalist Stuart Bykofsky divided the homeless into three groups: “(1) the economically distressed, who
McNamara, Robert Hartmann. "Homelessness." Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Social Issues. Ed. Michael Shally-Jensen. Vol. 3: Family and Society. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011. 1024-1031. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 May 2014. .
Homelessness is a real serious health issue all over the world that must be addressed. A lot of people in a public frequently misunderstand the cause of homelessness. Remarks regarding homeless people such as “they need to just get a job” or “go to school” are normally used liberally by members of society because they neglect to look at the complete issue. Homelessness does not discriminate. Individuals that have previously experience or may experience being homeless can be from different regions, have different cultural backgrounds, ages, and could be of any gender. Minorities seem to be mostly affected by homelessness. A study done in 2012 found that the homeless population is consisted of 39% non-Hispanic Whites, 42% African-Americans, 13% Hispanic, 4% Native-American, and 2% Asian (Now on PBS, 2012). The End Homelessness website provides the following statistics:
California’s economy drops more and more every year, which causes there to be a rise in the homeless population. Homeless are impossible to avoid, especially in California, they have become people we see every day on the streets. Many factors increase the homeless population in California every year. Some of these factors include unemployment, mental illness/drug abuse, and prisoner release. With the homeless population rising there could be a huge health alert rising as well. As a community, we can decrease the population of homelessness.
...did, but he could have it, and I also gave him the recyclables I had left. I attempted to explain to him what I had done and was doing, but it kind of went over his head so, instead of pushing it I held my hand out to shake his. He shook my hand and I also gave him a five dollar bill and said thank you.
Although the amount of homeless people has declined slightly in recent years, in 2012, there were approximately 633, 782 homeless people in the United States (Toppo, 2013). The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development assert that out of this population, about 38% are considered “unsheltered” or living on the streets, in parks, encampments, or other places not intended for habitation (U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development, ...
What made me dumbstruck was the fact that he didn’t seem sad about his situation. He had an above average height. And looking at his cardboard sign saying “Anything helps! Thank you!” Even though he didn’t get money he waved at bypassing people and cars. I felt as if he wasn’t homeless looking at him but the only then that indicates he’s homeless was his cardboard sign. I remember seeing a kid giving him a dollar. Not only was it heartwarming the guy was so thankful just looking at his face. What made me feel bad for him was that he’s asking money out here when it’s raining almost every day. This made me question myself do I take things for granted? I immediate thought of course not but some days I do because I don’t stop and realize what I have and how lucky I am to have
Walking down the streets of large cities it is common to see men, women, and sometimes even whole families laying beside buildings. Some people may ignore them and keep walking, some feel frightened, and some see the homeless as a human being and treat them like one. These people tend to be dirty, smelly, or they have a sad look that has overtaken their faces because of their struggle to survive. The people sleeping outside of buildings are homeless. Being homeless means not having anywhere to call home, although it also can mean living in a place that was never intended to house humans, such as a bus stop or a highway underpass. It is tempting to wedge the homeless together under a single label but there are an abundance of contrasting causes
We, Aimee Johnson and Jessie Virnig, along with Amy Wilson and Shawn Klimek, decided to try to give the homeless a little hope. The week before Christmas we went door to door and collected food for the local homeless shelter. We decided to focus on collecting food because around the Christmas season, a lot of emphasis is put on toy drives and people sometimes overlook the fact that the homeless still need to eat. In order to broaden our research, we decided to collect food from more than one group of people. We went to an average middle class neighborhood and to a college dormitory. Before we went out into the neighborhood and dorms, we prepared a thank you letter to give to everyone explaining to them who we were, to tell them that we were collecting food for the homeles...
The social conditions in which homeless youth find themselves, may result in absence of or poor access to nutritious food. This can be defined as food insecurity, where an individual has the inability to consume an adequate diet (Health Canada, 2012). For the youth living on streets, education becomes an obstacle, which may lead to unstable work, and therefore inconsistent income. They have to settle with low value jobs to earn just enough to feed themselves on a daily basis – the hand-to-mouth concept. Therefore, there are very limited options that the homeless youth are left with when it comes to food. When buying food, they tend to choose the cheaper alternative foods which are usually unhealthy and have little to no nutritional value to the body. Examples of these kinds of food include pizza, burgers, or perishable food items that are ready-to-eat (Dachner & Tarasuk, 2002). From our everyday experience, one can say that too much unhealthy foods can cause long-term health issues, ranging from diabetes to heart disease. Eventually, the immune system weakens, and serious complications may occur for the individual. It may be difficult for the homeless youth to access any health care services; so many times the symptoms for these diseases can go undiagnosed. At times, the homeless youth tend to go extending periods of time without food, resulting in intense hunger. Hunger is the consequence of food insecurity. It is the resulting feeling of discomfort, weakness, illness and pain – all of which play a great role on the health of youth (Jovanovic, Lecture 9). Though free food is available through charitable food programs such as food banks, they may not be accessible and travelling may not be an option, especially if they suffer fro...
On a normal of our everyday life, we find ourselves going to work or heading somewhere to meet up with a friend. While on the way there we pass someone that we don’t know sitting down on the ground alongside with him is a cart from a store filled with old clothes that either found or got from someone, some trash, maybe something small to eat to help with his hungry stomach growling throughout the day. You wonder how he got themselves into a position like that? Yet sometimes we know how he got there, although, we don’t always know someone else’s story. You leave some money by his foot to help get himself somewhere for a short time. Homelessness has increased over the years, from 1990s up until now. I believe that we can help these get back into a better environment for their life with the help of local shelters, food banks, donations from churches and schools, and many more things we can do in Licking County.
I went to the grocery store and got cases of water, bags of bread, and stuff to make the sandwiches. I had finished preparing the bags and each had granola bars, fruit, ham and cheese sandwiches, water, toothpaste, and other hygiene products. My dad and I had arrived outside the homeless shelter and were ready to pass the bags out as we saw the swarm of people. Hundreds maybe even thousands of people gathered sitting in what little shade there was. I knew we had a homeless problem, but not to this extent and the bags I had made were going to make little to no difference on the vast amount of people that had been sitting outside. I was a little disappointed at first to be completely honest because I was not prepared for that many people. If I would have known there would have been so many people I would have made more bags. We drove around the block planning on what we were going to do and saw some tents set up. My dad and I were curious as to what they were, so we got out the car and saw that these people had been giving people food and I walked up to them and asked if there was any way I could help them. These people in the tents were actually an organization called Open Arms Outreach and a few girls scouts. They gladly let us help and we brought a few cases of water and the bags I had made and helped pass them out. The organization Open Arms Outreach
Homelessness takes many forms and affects two to three million Americans at one point within their lifetime (US Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). It is such a concern in our society that a specific goal for this population was added to Healthy People 2020 (Health People 2020, 2013). There are many stereotypes, stigmas and judgment cast on the population of the homeless. Many describe someone who is homeless as a “bum,” who lives on the street. Do we really know that person’s story to call them a bum?
The most joyous season of the year in our house is Christmas. All the family gets together, gifts are exchanged and we give thanks for all that we have. This Christmas however, was one that I will never forget. If it weren't for the help of a stranger coming to my rescue, my holidays would have been ruined. He reminded me that a little kindness really does go along way.