After reading “Nickel and Dimed” and “Book of the Poor”, I got some great insight into the lives of people living in poverty. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the stereotypes and judgments of people living in poverty. People question them, saying why don’t they just get a job or they think they did something bad which put them in that situation. By reading these and hearing the voices of these people helped me create a sense of empathy. Something that really stuck out to me was a man named Robert. He mentioned how he feels as if he has no where else to turn and no other options. Therefore, he has turned to crime (robbery), drugs, and alcohol. The fact that people feel like they have no where to turn, shows how there needs to be a change within our society. They have lost hope in society and hope in themselves.
![homeless2[1]](http://www.coolsociology.net/SOAN324WP/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/homeless21.jpg)
During this past week, empathy had played a huge role. This data exercise put numbers into perspective. I got to see how people struggle financially on a day to day basis to make ends meet. It made me ask myself, what can I do to help? How many people are there solely in Redlands that are struggling? What is the city government doing about it? Lastly, what can we do about it? People often think that they cannot do anything because they are only one person. But helping the society has to start somewhere, even if you are just one person.
The thought of empathy is really important to highlight. So far, much of the class has shown us information that has made us feel empathetic toward the cause of homelessness. However, it did not come to life until the data exercise. I knew much of this information already, yet seeing the class’s reaction made me realize that many people can be empathetic without even knowing the real context of the situation.
As we were doing the data excercise I realized that with all of the basic needs including; apartment rent, utilities, food, transportation, medical care, etc. there was no way that we could make our minimum-wages cover all of these. This opened my eyes to the fact that this is why many people are homeless, even a minimum-wage job could not provide enough for an apartment plus needs of living.