Don't Say "Homeless" people won't understand

There is no worse label you can put yourself than "Homeless". Immediately, the association of .....Loser, Drug Addict, Mental Problems, Smelly, untrustworthy, Psycho, Criminal...basically..here is something wrong with that person besides "no house to live in"

There is 1.5 person who knows about my blog. She is a ex-coworker. L.-I know you probably reading this right now...lol. Well, she some how stumbled upon my blog. And she can attest, I have none of those qualities above.

So what amazes me is that you can put almost any negative label on a person and it's not worse than "Homeless". If You tell someone you are a drug addict or have a mental problem.....there is a little bit of sympathy. A small amount of understand.

But just using the word. I'm Homeless...instead of sympathy, they feel there is something wrong with you to get yourself in that situation.

3 weeks ago, I went to dinner at Todai in DT Seattle. I had dinner with a woman. She was the one who invited me. We haven't seen each other in 3 years. A person who I thought is like a friend. We used to work together for LIHI. She has been stressed with her daughter and life. At dinner, I revealed to her, I am now living in a Van. I am homeless. We had a good dinner and wonderful conversation. Ever since then, I've tried to call her times. Each time, she did not put up the phone. I emailed her. Her replied in a one liner saying she is just stressed with life.

Ok, I got the message. Friendship over. Never say you are homeless. People won't understand.