Who has the right to the better life?

I led a senior retreat in February with a guy in my class from high school. On the retreat he generously shared with me that in his first year in college he had gotten into drugs and been arrested; he was taking time off college to go through a rehab program.

I also commonly hear comments about the homeless of our country and their assumed drug addictions. People use these assumptions as excuses not to care about or look at those who live on the streets. I understand this; it makes perfect sense to me not to help people with their drug addictions. It makes perfect sense for me not to spend my money on drugs for someone else.

Yet why is there such a difference between my high school classmate and the man on the street? My classmate has food on his table and loving parents to support him. He has someone paying for a quality treatment center. He doesn't go without. He can return to college after his recovery time. He made a mistake, but he still has a great opportunity to make something of himself - in the sense of the American dream.

The homeless man doesn't have the same safety net. he may not have anything to eat one day. He might be sleeping on a park bench every night for a week, possibly harassed by police officers (for breaking laws that make it illegal to be homeless) or other people. It might be a lot harder for him to find a treatment center that has the capacity to help him, and when he does find a treatment center, it likely won't be as good as a treatment center for someone who can afford to pay for his own treatment. What is the difference between these two men? Solely their circumstances. I point this out not to make us feel bad for our opportunities - for that's a trap I too often fall into myself - but to make us realize the differences in situations that bring people to where they are.

After a weekend retreat learning about homelessness and poverty, specifically in Cincinnati, and a semester of meetings teaching me about various issues surrounding the homeless, I see the issue of homelessness fairly differently than I used to. It's a travesty that our nation sits by and allows circumstances to dictate someone's lot in life, especially in a nation that prides itself in class mobility - a myth. As Dr. Christine Anderson, the director of the Over-the-Rhine urban service learning semester that I will be participating in next semester, said to me, "It's not an opportunity that I want to take away from people but an opportunity I want more people to have." After all, most decisions I make can be undone without lasting consequences that are too significant. Not everyone has that luxury.

I'm still struggling with what this means. How can we take this new thought process and incorporate it into our lives? How does this new thought process influence how we treat the people we come across in the streets downtown? We don't have unlimited resources to solve these problems. We can't give money or food to everyone - in some cases because laws prevent handing out food to homeless people. We don't have unlimited time either.

But I truly believe that what we can do will make every bit of difference. As Fr. Michael Graham, S.J., president of Xavier University, said, "But whether their futures will be big and public or small and private, here is the simple truth: It seems to me each of us is called to a greatness all our own, just as each of us is sent to transform a corner of the world that we alone can touch. The whole wide world is not ours to change. That task belongs to God. But I can't shake the sense that God will accomplish it as he usually does: step by step, bit by bit, and piece by piece, using our hands and hearts to remake it into the kingdom God fashioned it to be."

Donald Whitehead, a formerly homeless man who spoke to us this weekend, told us that the single most significant event that helped him to get his life back on track and rescued him from homeless was the person who took the time to look him in the eye and treat him like a person. I wonder what we could do if we didn't simply avert our eyes from someone on the street who asks for our help. If we didn't mumble something about not having money and continue down the street, what could we do? What difference does it make if we simply take the time to talk to someone, even if we don't have any money or food to offer? Well we would be talking to a person who isn't normally treated as a human being. To some, it could make a difference.

What if we could honestly say that we didn't have any cash, but instead offered to take someone to a restaurant and buy a meal. Even further, what if we then sat down with that person and ate the meal with him, taking the time to talk to him, to look him in the eye, to enjoy his company. Friday night I had an experience in which two friends and I bought a meal for a man who was so genuinely grateful that he touched my heart. I wonder how much more he would have touched my heart if we had sat down with him and had a conversation. I wonder what his story is. I wonder how he ended up on the street. He seemed sane and didn't seem to have a drug addiction. So what's his story? Maybe next time I'll take the time to find out.