The Rembis Report and Other Fascinating Topics - Volume CVIII

This newsletter is the last of six weekly editions in a series about homelessness, vagrancy, nomadic lifestyle, human emigration, and definitions of freedom.

• Click here to read Plight of the Unbound - Part I

• Click here to read Plight of the Unbound - Part II

• Click here to read Plight of the Unbound - Part III

• Click here to read Plight of the Unbound - Part IV

• Click here to read Plight of the Unbound - Part V

America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. This mantra has been around a long time. For over two centuries the United States has served as a beacon of freedom for the world. Rightly so, when compared to many other governments. Free elections. Free press. Civil rights. Equality. We have a lot of that stuff. We have plenty of freedom.

Freedom is what Americans strive for. More or less, it is what we are all about.

My Dad used to say a lot of weird stuff. Those of you who knew him can attest to that. He told me “In America, you are free to do anything you can get away with. You are free to go anywhere. You are free to breathe the air and drink the water, and you are free to starve.”

That still rings as a strange thing to tell a kid, but he was right, and I think that is why I remember that he said it.

Homeless people are free. They are autonomous. Nobody forces them to live on whatever patch of ground they choose. If they are not evicted from a sidewalk where they set up a tent, they will stay there. Perhaps indefinitely, because it becomes their home. So, like George Carlin told us, they are houseless, not homeless.

And when you see so many tents and makeshift hovels on city streets, in parks, under bridges, in the United States of America, you may think to yourself that the people inhabiting those spaces have made the conscious choice of claiming them, and they are expressing their freedom.

Are they?

In the short term, absolutely. They may have no place else to go. For the long haul, however, most people don’t want to live in a cardboard box. Yet, some decide that they must in order to survive. And their definition of short term, their freedom to choose where they want to be, and how they want to live their life, sometimes becomes a warped ideal of existence in the eyes of others.

It is largely considered a myth that homelessness is a choice. Most literature on the subject supports this, stating that homelessness is no more a choice than slavery. It is something that nobody would choose. It is something that is forced upon those without freedom of choice (because they have no money or other support) and must be endured to survive, until it ends. If it ends.

Most of us (the population at large) have never experienced homelessness and don’t quite understand how it can happen because the mindset of being out in the world free, yet without support, is alien to us. We can’t identify with it.

I told you a bit about my hitchhiking adventures. While I did not consider myself homeless, but traveling, I once found myself in Mobile, Alabama. The fellows who picked me up suggested I get in somewhere for the night because it was getting dark. I did not want to let on that I had money. They did not seem like crooks who wanted to rob me, and they were not, but I took no chances, and told them I was broke. So, they dropped me off at the Salvation Army.

I remember that night well. It was a sprawling complex, filled with men who had come in off the street. I told the people at the desk that I was traveling and just wanted to get in for the night, and would leave first thing in the morning. They took me in, gave me a locker to put my valuables in, and a key on a rubber band to keep on my wrist. I was issued a towel and sent to a lone shower. One person at a time only, with a man standing guard outside the door, so I felt safe. The place had a prison like quality to it, but was devoid of malevolence.

There was a chow line and a short prayer before the meal. I don’t recall what I ate but it was not objectionable. They gave me bed sheets and sent me to a dormitory with what looked like a hundred beds. Not all were taken. I got up on a top bunk with nobody below me. It was not so bad, except for a lot of snoring. In the morning, they fed me again and sent me on my way. Only then did I realize that I had been locked in for the night. Maybe they told me and I didn’t give it much thought, but once I got out, I realized that I had given up some of my freedom for a bed, a shower, and a meal. It was a good deal. I still had all my money and everybody was nice to me. But I would not have wanted to stay. I was on my way to Florida.

I don’t know if I should call it a homeless experience, but it is the closest I have come to knowing what absolutely needing shelter must be like. If I had been in truly rough shape, say robbed and beaten, broke, hungry, lost, confused, or destitute in any way, the Salvation Army does not judge. They open their doors and keep people safe.

As nice as they are, the Salvation Army is only temporary, and some people may feel trapped in there. So they don’t go to begin with, or never go back.

Some people enjoy being left alone. To be themselves, do what they want, when they like, as long as they can. A conventional, societally integrated life is not for everyone. Some folks just want their freedom. Hermits and Hermettes have been with us for ages, living lives of solitude, or whatever version of solitude one considers themself at peace with.

For some, solitude is a luxury. Many who prefer solitude are not necessarily homeless, either. Lots of people just like privacy. But sometimes, circumstances dictate the path you take toward your freedom. Nissim Kahlon started out squatting on beach in Israel in 1973 and never left. His privacy was thrust upon him by whatever financial and societal forces steered him to that beach in the first place.

Then, he carved a cave into the hillside.

Fifty years later, what started as a dugout shelter has expanded into a multi-room palace with electricity and plumbing. Advocates for the house have lobbied for it’s acceptance as a UNESCO world heritage site.

This was done by a homeless man.

He found freedom to do what he wanted, where he wanted, when he wanted, and because he squatted and didn’t follow building codes, he may be evicted and his home destroyed. And he will be homeless once more.

Or, was he homeless all along? Did he feel homeless? Does he fall into the category of the psychological homeless? Maybe he should be considered an emotional homeless? He built himself a home, so if you want to be technical about it, no, he is not homeless. Not yet, but he will be.

There is also hidden homelessness. While victims of hidden homelessness may also be afflicted with psychological or emotional homelessness, where they have tougher interpersonal struggles, this is not always the case. It may just be a run of unfortunate circumstances that have forced somebody to take up residence on a floor, a garage, or somebody’s basement, couch-surfing until they stabilize. As far a census goes, they would not be counted as homeless.

With every example above and in what we see in refugees from around the world, homelessness, on some level, is side-by-side with freedom. Depending upon your viewpoint, homelessness can be complete freedom, or a trap. Either way, those with freedom, who really feel it, do not want to give it up.

So, breaking free of homelessness, sometimes, is almost like asking somebody to give up their freedom.

Come in for some food, some shelter, some warmth, some help. Don’t be afraid, they hear.

But nobody wants anyone to lose their freedom. Unless somebody wants to control them. In which case, we can examine freedom among refugees and the homeless almost as if it were a flowchart.

War → Seek refuge → Get rejected → Choose one → Legal route to freedom → Illegal route to freedom → Freedom.

Or maybe it’s . . .

Freedom → Fight to stay free → Fail → Get locked up → Choose one → Legal route to regain freedom → Escape to freedom → Live Free Or Die → New Hampshire.

As ChatGPT told me, The issue of homelessness is indeed a complex and challenging problem that affects many individuals and communities worldwide.

Choices are:

• Create a home

• Adopt a nomadic lifestyle

• Vagrancy

• Find shelter

There could be more choices, or maybe it is just one of the above, or perhaps all four. By now, you see, this is a game of whack-a-mole.

There are no simple answers. For the people who need the most help many resources exist. They are on the internet. You can find anything. But not without a phone or computer. Since homeless people don’t have those, how do they get the information?

What about a phone book? A city directory? Do they still print those? Where can you get one? Is there a chamber of commerce for homeless people?

Not exactly. But there is a place where that information is distributed freely. Your local, completely free to use, public library. You might even find a copy of The Homeless Voice newspaper and find out everything relevant to homeless people, like you.

Hey, Mike, I am not homeless.

Not saying you are. There are plenty of homeless people who won’t admit they are homeless. There are homeless non-beggars. They likely fall into one of the psychological categories discussed a while ago.

Are you suggesting that homeless people have psychological problems?

Not at all, but some people certainly do, and many require help. There are preventative measures that may be taken to deter homelessness. Helping people financially while they still have a home can help them stay there.

Living on the street does a lot to a person. It drains them mentally and physically. Staying healthy becomes job number one and self preservation takes on many challenging forms. A person’s journey through life can help them avoid homelessness. Yet, once a person is homeless, that experience becomes the proving ground and starting point for who they will become next.

What if they are unable to rise up?

I can’t say. Too many variables. Can’t help everyone. Can’t ignore them either. At least there is propaganda like this out there to make you feel good when you walk past a person living in a tent next to a dumpster. You could get a classy tent like that for your sidewalk too!

And you can tell yourself, all you want, that they chose this lifestyle.

Or did they?

Thanks for reading.

If you are new to the Rembis Report and would like to read any of the previous issues, PLEASE CLICK HERE to access the archives. To read it from the beginning, PLEASE GET A COPY of The Rembis Report: An Observation.