Just want to share my perspective for these people. I admit I did have experience being “homeless” but neither being houseless. I still got parent house to visit and stay with them but it lost the title as “Home” since 10 years ago (when I aged 15 years old) at least just from my perspective. However, this is another story I want to talk about.
During my experience being homeless and actually sleeping beside the road. It made my mind think a lot, regarding my existence, purpose, who I am and also why we have a group of homeless in our society?
Why some of them so unfortunate to carry on their lives unlike as normal as most people does. Since I migrated to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital city. When I walk around at LRT Masjid Jamek, I would see a bunch homeless people sleeping on the public spaces and some of them actually is healthy but I am not sure if they do have addiction whatsoever but we do authority to grasp this issue and I believe it is not all about addiction and mostly they are sane.
Have you ever went to vacation at resort or island and you stumble upon a group of monkey? What is warning given. “Do not feed the monkey”. Do you know why they put that sign? If you feed them, they will never those place because it’s the easiest way for the monkey to survive. I believe the same happen in the city and we know we do have rich philanthropists which never give up to support the community especially providing them some food.
But happen if we stop feeding them? Before you judging me, I’m not saying we let those unfortunate suffer more and more. But I would like to bring to another possibilities for this solution.
So back to the monkeys, what is the humane way to solve this. We can’t feed them anymore. But at the same time, you have destroying their habitat and replaced it as your leisure resort. Capture the monkeys and place them to another place. Well it quite humane but it did not solve the problem. You just “get rid the problem”. So what we can do about it?
One possible way to and much humane solution is we a human is simply return their habitat as it should be. You can not negotiate with Mother Nature. we are the one who intrudes their habitat and their ecosystem so we could satisfy our lust on beauty by conquering them as their own. YES, nature it is beautiful, but you know putting the eyes on beauty is putting the eyes on death.
So what the relation with homeless, you might guess. If you looking back on history, these lands are free for to live in (as long you loyal and pay tax to sultan). You could built your own house with the help of villagers and survive by farming or raising a livestock. But now we lives in complex society in the complex structure with the complex system. It is so difficult to own land unless you have a resources and good credit score to mortgage a land. And I believe government have done a great contribution back in 50’s with FELDA plan, it still amaze me until now which most people took them for granted.
I’m not saying we should gives these people a land to sustain themselves. In the First Principle, what we looking for with home is safety and security and acceptance from nearby society by giving them their new purpose and roles. As I said before, we live in complex system: Bankruptcy, Credit, Police record history and much more, slowly took their livelihood as we took the monkey’s.
But for the case such as mental disorder we need to separate them from crowds since we or them might disturbing public the public order.
For philanthropist, social worker and volunteer, keep contributing to these communities. At least, you might the only small percentage from our society who actually accept them.
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