What is homelessness to you?

“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.”- Mother Teresa

In this quote describing homelessness, I feel like Mother Teresa is trying to explain the multiple layers of homelessness, not just the stereotype. Child homelessness also becomes involved in this quote. When a child is unwanted, unloved, and uncared for, they feel like they do not belong in their own home and run away. We may not see them, but there are 1 million to 3 million runaway and homeless kids living on the streets in the United States today. This quote can be interpreted in many ways. What do you think? What does this quote mean to you?

Please comment below and leave your opinion on the quote.

- Hypatia

Does history REALLY repeat itself?

 They say history repeats itself, and we learn from what happened.  But who would think that one of the most devastating moments of the 20^th Century would be happening now?   A question has arisen these days, “Is the Great Depression repeating itself, right now in 2011?”

            To answer this question, I faced the facts.  Around the depression 250,000 children were considered homeless.  Many teenagers had to live on their own because their families couldn’t support themselves.  Today there is somewhere around 1.35 million a night.

            These numbers may seem extremely different, but I also needed to take account the amount of people in the world today.  The US census in 1930 says there were 122,775,046 people in the US.  The 2010 census says there are 308,745,538 people in the US.  I calculated the percents, and .2% of the populations in 1930 were homeless children and .4% now.  So homeless children have nearly doubled since the depression. 

            This brings me back to my original question.  “Is the Great Depression happening again?”  Possibly, yes.  But it may not just be poverty.  There could be other causes to homelessness besides poverty.  But the effects of whatever is happening should be fixed.  Please comment and discuss the following topic if you wish.