Reflecting on one of life's little ironies
Editorial
A HUMAN interest story [please note: link provided by LOSP web site] in yesterday's `Chronicle' provides several vignettes of life as experienced by a few of the economically disadvantaged in Guyana. The story focused on the pool of skills that resides among the habitues of the recently-opened night shelter for the homeless of the City. In the shelter's register, the writer Shirley Thomas notes, there are teachers, nurses, midwives, tailors, army veterans, masons, carpenters, electricians and gardeners. But one inmate that gave the writer pause is a 48-year-old man who is the holder of a graduate degree from the University of the West Indies (UWI).
Until recently, this educated person was living on the streets. He is wearing his 28th pair of spectacles, for so hazardous has been his existence that his glasses were continually stolen from him. The man's life began unravelling in the 1980s not long after he had completed his studies at UWI. A domestic upheaval resulted in a breakdown of his marriage; he began drinking, then he suffered a nervous breakdown. It was not long afterwards that he found himself living on the streets eking out an existence day-to-day.
This is a case-study with which most career people would empathise. It is a situation in which a perfectly normal and intelligent human being is caught in a vortex of forces which may not be of one's own making. The security of the home is shattered; there is no extended family that cares enough to provide physical sustenance and mental and moral support to a member who is suddenly cut adrift; or, the relatives are far too occupied eking out an existence for their own brood to offer help; the victim has no income and is forced to vacate his dwelling place; then comes the last alternative - living on the street. His former colleagues would part with some change when they see him and then turn away whispering the well-known sentence of gratitude - `There, but for the grace of God, go I.'
The scenario is not unique to Guyana. Not all of the thousands of homeless in the cities of Europe and the United States are worthless, good-for-nothing bums. Scores of them were once respected as skilled employees and trained professionals. Some homeless persons who still own their cars are just a cut above those who sleep on the streets and in underground stations. And while there is adequate accommodation in shelters in the big cities, many homeless accept the hot meals offered but would firmly decline the invitation to sleep in these facilities for a number of reasons.
Perhaps, Guyanese should not be too astonished to learn that skilled and educated persons are among the poorest and most disadvantaged in society. A couple of years ago, Britain's Prince Charles was visiting a shelter for the homeless in London when a former schoolmate reintroduced himself to the heir of the throne. This was a man whose place in the hierarchy of English society had permitted him to go to school with royalty. In wryly explaining how he had come down in the world, the man said that his life had taken a number of "twists and turns".
Life's "twists and turns" are not confined to any one group of people. They present themselves daily to millions of people around the world. The fact is that some people are better than others in coping with the big tragedies as well as with the little setbacks and times of disillusionment that come their way.
For those individuals who need a few months of physical assistance to regain their sense of self-worth and dignity so that they could be reintegrated into society in a meaningful way, the night shelter is more than a haven from the wet pavement and the cruelty of others. It is a welcome safety net for the disadvantaged. In time, perhaps, the UWI graduate will be leaving the facility to take up a respectable position in the private sector.
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