Living the Simple Life.

At my local grocery store I threw some change in a red bucket next to a lady ringing a bell. The lady kept saying "Happy Halloween!" instead of the scripted "Happy Holidays!" Thats not important. I started thinking about homeless people and how they came to exist.

I mentioned homeless life in my last blog. That type of life is interesting to me. If you think about it, the homeless lifestyle only came about when actually owning a home/land became so important. The United States was founded by homeless people, they just happened to have a boat. (I'm thinking of putting that on a cardboard sign and seeing how much money I can make in a day.) Were there homeless people around in Lewis and Clark's time? Absolutely. I think they've been around since they were building pyramids in the desert. But as the human race has evolved, so too has the homeless man (or woman).

Back in the day homeless people did what every other human did, they survived by living off the land. Sit on the street shaking a cup? No, Thomas Jefferson was too busy hunting for dinner and building his home out of trees. I feel the productivity of the homeless human has drastically declined over the years. So as I walked down the pasta aisle I wondered the real reason these people get to the point of living under a bridge.

It starts with a lack of finances which can be caused by several reasons but most importantly is from a lack of income (i.e. no job) Now here comes my questioning. For the last 23 years McDonald's has been hiring. Some companies are moving their factories to Mexico because they have jobs that Americans don't want to do. Thats where I see iriony in the man asking for change.

So where does homeless-ness come from? Laziness. Yup. Thats right. Where does laziness come from? Mostly our habits. So when I have kids I'm not going to say "If you sit that close to the TV you'll go blind." Instead I will say "If you sit in front of the TV enough, you'll go homeless." Don't get me wrong, I have compassion for those people who are forced into being homeless by uncontrollable factors, they're cool with me. But my change is saved for the Thomas Jeffersons of the 21st century.

My point being.... if I had no money, I wouldn't be digging through a garbage can. I would be eating a #7 with a coke at the end of my shift. Or I would be hunting and writing the constitution. I am not a homeless-ologist, this is just my theory. Let me know what you think.

O yea and support your local Salvation Army. They do good things.

Keep smilin ;)

JM