I'll Never Be Homeless. You Sure?

We avoid meeting the homeless on the street. How do we know they are homeless? They push carts they nicked from the grocery store, although we’ve also stolen grocery carts ourselves. That’s why in Canada, if you push it so many meters away from the store, it locks. I’m going nowhere, it says.

How do you know they’re homeless? Their clothes are in tatters. But, you also wear cut-up (distressed jeans) that cost $90. That’s different. It is fashion and it’s trending. It’s not distressed as in homeless.

We avoid the homeless because they have a tendency to come close and ask for change, and they don’t smell of a German cologne, French after shave or perfume named after a singer. We move away and press the mask on the nose to ward off the repulsive smell.

But the real reason we avoid them is anger. We don’t know how they allowed themselves to hit rock bottom. It can never happen to me, we shrug, open our designer bags and fish out our android phones.

Me? Homeless? Never. There are many reasons for being on the street but we don’t know them because the media and ‘online experts’ don’t interview the homeless. News hounds are vain, like us, and don’t mingle with the unkempt and unwashed.

Being homeless is possible and there are warning flash lights. It’s not just losing your job due to the pandemic or a divorce that leaves you with four kids.

Homelessness is caused by things we like, that are not budgeted in the paycheck or any other source of income. It is belonging to a group or community that insists on visual proof of belonging, which costs money.

Homelessness is a taboo subject in circles that give us pleasure, but is a reality. Yes, it can happen to me or you.  

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.