5
i
9

a

:

Cut the poverty porn

Sophie Geffros
The Silhouette
(McMaster University)

 

omeone you know has
been homeless.

This can be a hard concept
to wrap your head around—if
you're lucky, homelessness is
something that happens to
other people, and we can only
conceive of homelessness as what
housing advocates call “street
homelessness.” According to
a 2013 report by the Wellesley
Institute, for every individual
identified as street homeless,
another four are part of what
advocates call the “hidden
homeless” population.

Think of your high school
friend who surfed couches when

ss]

his parents kicked him out after
discovering he was gay. Think of
the sibling who struggles with
addiction and is in and out of
halfway houses. Think of the
friend who confessed tearfully
that she and her mother spent
the summer in a women’s shelter
after leaving a violent spouse.
The majority of the homeless
population is intermittently
homeless, and therefore hidden.
Even if you don’t know anyone
like I just described, I promise
you that statistically speaking you
have worked with, or attended
classes with, or been friends
with someone who has been
homeless. It’s not the kind of
thing you talk about, but that
doesn’t mean it isn’t present.
The DeGroote School
of Business’ “5 Days for the

Homeless” campaign both
ignores these populations
and gives a false idea of what
street homelessness looks like.
Twenty per cent of the street
homeless population is youth
16-24, of whom at least 40 per
cent are LGBT and about 60
per cent are Aboriginal. When
surveyed by Covenant House,
they identified the greatest risk
to their lives to be physical and
sexual assault while sleeping
rough or in shelters. Spending
five nights sleeping outside the
Student Centre gives a false
idea of what homelessness
is, and is far safer than the
conditions street homeless
youth actually experience.
Programs like 5 Days for
the Homeless appeal to us
because they sanitize housing

Shouldn't have brought that

> Why babies don’t belong everywhere

Elliot Chan
Opinions Editor

 

get it: young parents need to

have a life too. They want to
go out to events, spend time on
vacations, and have dinners at
restaurants. But when you are
bringing a baby with you, you
are responsible for anything that
happens, not the general public.

During a Montreal

Canadiens open practice on
February 21, a puck thrown into
the stands by defenceman P.K.
Subban struck a one-month-
old baby. Throwing pucks
into the crowd is a display of
appreciation from the players.
They are giving fans a souvenir
for their experience. There is
no fault on the players or the
game. Even if the puck wasn't

tossed by a player, hockey is
an inherently dangerous sport,
not just for players, but for

the fans too. Like foul balls

at baseball games, the pucks
often leave the playing field.

My sympathy goes out to
the baby’s family, but it wasn’t
like they didn’t know where
they were going. They actually
planned to bring the infant to
the practice. The thing is, the
baby doesn’t even know where
she is—babies don’t understand
the game of hockey—so
why was she even there?

If you can’t find a babysitter,
you shouldn't go to an event. I’m
sorry moms and dads. That’s
just the way it is. Because if
something bad happens, you put
other people in a tight situation.
In this case, it was Subban.

It seems many parents teeter

back and forth between caring
too much and not caring enough.
I see moms riding their bikes with
their baby in the back carriage,
racing through a yellow light. I
see parents bringing their baby to
busy supermarkets with people
and shopping carts moving this
way and that. You want your
child close to you, but you also
want them to be safe. Sometimes
you can't have both. The world

is rather dangerous, and babies
are vulnerable in many ways.

I don’t know what the best
parent in the world looks like. J
don’t know what it’s like to have
a newborn. But I do know the
first few years of a baby’s life are
pivotal. As parents, your baby
depends on you to make the
right decisions for them every
day. It sucks, because that may
mean missing out ona lot of

(¥ When 2016 could have been like 1984
(¥ Wear your heart (and your curse words) on your sleeve

(¥Y Chinese creative constructions must be

within constraints

And more!

 

> While intentions may be good, not all fundraising is created equal

insecurity. They make us feel
good about ourselves for caring,
without having to be confronted
with the unpleasant realities of
homelessness. Advocates for the
campaign will say that it raises
awareness of street homelessness,
but raising awareness for street
homelessness is absurd. If you
are honestly unaware that people
are sleeping on the streets in our
city, you are willfully ignoring the
men and women sleeping rough
by every downtown bus stop.

| want to ask you a question:
do you look at street homeless
people when you see them on
the sidewalk? How many of you
are willing to donate your food
and converse with the students
aping at homelessness outside of
the Student Centre, but ignore
the man at the bus stop asking

Image via thinkstock

for change? How often do you
justify not helping when you
are confronted with the need by
saying “well, they’re just going
to spend it on drugs anyway?”
How often do you willfully look
away when you are confronted
with suffering? Too many of us
fail to recognize the humanity
and dignity of others when
confronted with their pain. We
can all strive to be better at this.
Pretending to understand a
struggle that is not ours so that
we can write heart-warming
Facebook posts about what
we've learned is not the way to
go about it. The unkempt street
homeless man who asks you

for a dollar is just as human as
the commerce student sleeping
outside the student centre.

 

fun activities. ’'m sorry, you lost
the privilege of doing whatever
you want the day you brought
another life into this world. I
don’t know what the best parent
in the world looks like, but I can
tell you a good parent is one that
understands that, and doesn’t
resent their child for making

Image via thinkstock

them miss out on fun sometimes.
I guess, for those with

children, it’s already too late

to heed my caution. However,

if you plan on having kids in

the future, I hope you know

that you should—will—miss

out on some fun. Sorry.