From the Editorial Staff... - One ‘homeless’ or ‘comfortable’ night?

the Editorial Staff

According to the Facebook event description, “One Homeless Night is an event involving sleep-outs to experience firsthand how and why young people experience homelessness and to raise funds to support Synergy Services, a local nonprofit organization who for 40 years has provided shelter, counseling, outreach and advocacy for countless runaway and homeless youth.”

What is not mentioned in the description, however, is how funds are being raised, and the specifics of whom and what these supposed proceeds benefit. How can the event raise much money if there is no student fee to participate in One Homeless Night? Sure, donations are requested from the faculty, but is that enough?

The idea is a noble one, but the night students spend on the Quad hardly resembles what it is like to be homeless.

Those who participated in One Homeless Night most likely did so by sleeping in the comfort of a warm sleeping bag with an iPod and cell phone beside  his or her head - items most likely not owned by homeless persons.  Participants likely ate beforehand, and thus did not go to bed hungry.  There is no fear of being stabbed or mugged in the middle of the night on the Quad, and the likelihood that personal belongings will be stolen is rare, if it even exists.

People living on the street do not have any of these luxuries.   They do not have cellphones or iPods.  Many go to bed hungry, not having eaten that day.  Even while they sleep they are on guard because,  at any moment, someone could come by with the intent of robbing them of everything they have, sometimes harming them in the process.

All this being said, One Homeless Night should take place, but with a few possible alterations.  Students should be encouraged not to eat the day of One Homeless Night.  In addition, cellphones and the use of other electronic devices should be strongly discouraged.

Those in charge should make every effort to make One Homeless Night as realistic as possible.  If the intention is for students to experience what it is like to be homeless for a night, then the event should represent a night spent homeless more realistically.

The idea of having a box-decorating contest and showing some heartfelt cinema is antithetical to the event’s suggested purpose. It sentimentalizes the hardships that the homeless have to face each day. Do you think that an individual that calls a Frigidaire box “home” is consumed with trendy aesthetics or feng shui?

One Homeless Night should be many things: informational, beneficial and uncomfortable. Perhaps students should be asked to a make small cash donation to benefit Synergy as well. Go sleep on the Quad and stay there the entire night despite the lack of entertainment and palatable weather conditions. Try to sleep in a box wearing minimal layers of clothes, perhaps just a jacket, gloves and shoes. Fast beforehand and try to sleep with the hunger pangs in your stomach. Leave the electronics in your residence halls; we doubt the vagrants residing on Troost have the new Jack’s Mannequin album to lull them to sleep. Greatest of all, participate with the knowledge that this cannot be more than a simulation.

Participants’ uncomfortable state of mind has a definite expiration date, whether it be when you scarf down a Cardinal Sandwich the next morning, linger in the warm showers or when you snuggle into your twin-XL mattress. You are fortunate. Do not minimize the concept of One Homeless Night by poor execution.