Our class began this week by looking at the cost of living in our own communities. In groups, we were tasked with seeing if the numbers “added up”. Working full time (40/hr/wk) at minimum wage gave us about $1600. After subtracting all of our expenses from this number, we found it was nearly impossible to “make it” with this wage. Housing alone costs around $800-900 per month. Food costs close to $400. Transportation (bus or car) ends up costing $50-100 a month. This isn’t even taking clothes, entertainment, childcare, etc. into account. This really is no way to live, with barely getting by. This exercise kind of put things into perspective for me.

On Thursday, we watched a film titled, “Taylor’s Campaign”. I found this film very interesting because it allowed an outsider to see what it’s really like to live on the street. Sometimes I feel bad for the lack of resources these individuals have; the fact that they have no place to call home, but then sometimes I think that some of them want to live on the streets and continue to do drugs and the like, and it just kind of ruins it for those who want a better life. It is not okay to be living on the streets. Maybe it’s my ignorance or maybe the fact that I want society as a whole to grow and improve and prosper, but you can’t help everyone and sometimes people are just too stuck in their ways to ever change their circumstances. The sad reality is that the homeless issues that we see today aren’t likely to change anytime soon.