The reading assigned for this week, which was chapter two of Braving the Street by Glasser and Bridgman, explained the patterns of homeless individuals. The chapter begins by asking, “Who are the homeless?” I find this interesting because before taking this course, I though I knew exactly who the homeless were. I used to believe that the homeless were drunks and addicts, crazy or just plain lazy. I believed that they were nothing more than lazy drunk men and women. However, now that I am five weeks into this course, I realize that homeless individuals cannot be generalized nor stereotyped, because they are humans, and each person has their own backgrounds and experiences. Yes, it may be the case sometimes that they are addicts or alcoholics, but there are also people who fell into homelessness purely because of unfortunate circumstances. And as went went over in our class discussion today, there are many circumstances that can cause homelessness. Trauma, divorce, loss of job or home are some just to name a few.The chapter went on to explain the statistics of those living in homelessness, and the authors found that most homeless people are single white men. The authors explained that women, children, and individuals with mental illnesses also account for a portion of the homeless population. What really intrigued me while reading was learning about homeless youth, and how unfortunate it is that there are people my age or younger living on the streets. It leads me to ask how do these youth become homeless, and what kind of aid or help is there for young adults and minors? And are they more likely to be homeless in their adult lives?