I decided to research the stats and causes of homelessness for veterans and teach it to my family. I wanted to see who homeless veterans were, and some of the different reasons, beyond the causes of general homelessness, that causes homelessness in the veteran population. I have an interest in the topic because I hope to join the military after college, specifically in trauma care field, and the people I may be interacting with or helping could end up homeless because of any injuries they may sustain, mental disorders, or issues with the system that makes it challenging for them to find employment once they return to the civilian world. I hoped to accomplish learning something myself in my research, but also, I hoped that I could teach my family something about homelessness in general and about veteran homelessness specifically and the challenges that come with the issues they face when returning from war. I used aspects of the course material when describing some of the general causes of homelessness such as lack of affordable housing and lack of a livable minimum wage. Within the stats on veteran homelessness I also included some stats on the general homeless population for comparison. I chose these specific aspects of the course material because I did not believe that my family is aware of the more deep-rooted systemic issues that cause homelessness. It was also relevant information to go over before talking about some of the stats and causes of homelessness among the veteran population. Overall the teaching effort was a success in my eyes. It was definitely outside of my comfort zone, which I suspect is the point, but my family was receptive to the information and polite in their questions and observations. I presented a PowerPoint with information I had researched and taken from the course and that format worked well, especially over Skype where I feel the visual aid helped keep me on topic and allowed my family to focus on the information I was presenting. I first asked them a couple questions to understand what their personal ideas on homelessness were which I don’t feel went very well. I left the questions to broad and somewhat generic and so I got broad and generic responses. At the end I asked if they had any questions which sparked a much larger discussion than I was expecting and was somewhat gratifying to know they had an interest in the topic beyond just helping me with an assignment. This project was a stretch for me; I dislike presenting to people because I always get incredibly nervous. Overall though I feel, ultimately it was a good experience to have. It was gratifying as well to know my family had an interest in the topic of homelessness and veteran homelessness because I was unsure how they would receive it but they were willing and able to hold an in depth discussion afterwards which I appreciated.

When we watched “Taylor’s Campaign” I was shocked that some people look at homeless people with such distain that they can suggest letting them starve to death. For the most part I have considered people to have some sympathy and whether or not believe that homelessness is an issue that should be helped by outside sources or not believe that those who are homeless should have the right to get out of their predicament whether by receiving help or by working their way back up. I was surprised that there are people who are willing to so callously claim that the homeless should just die and leave them without the considered burden. It reminded me of a scene from a Christmas Carol where when asked if he would like to donate to help feed hungry and starving people Scrooge inquires about the condition of work houses and prisons, when the two asking for charity saying many would rather die than go to those places Scrooge comments “If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.” I honestly never expected a sentiment like that to be expressed to openly, especially while on camera for everyone to see. Everyone needs a helping hand once in a while and to suggest that because some people need a lot of help they should die I find appalling. I feel it comes from a lack of awareness as to how people can become homeless and how hard it is for those with jobs at the bottom of the pay grade to maintain enough income to support themselves.