The Free Spirited versus the Homeless
...ay from the conformities of living under rules that apply to having a job, children, bills, etc. These free spirited people chose to join together, live in vans, and start movements to protest the Vietnam War. It is doubtful that any of these people felt underprivileged because they didn’t live in homes. They felt as though they were making a difference by showing their free spirits, and convincing others of their convictions. They were not vulnerable or endangered people, because in many places, they were the majority. Their goals were to make a change and make the world a peace loving place. Being homeless was not something they considered to be a problem. Now, consider the homeless of today’s world. Just the few essays assigned in this section show the extreme differences between today’s homeless and the free spirited from years ago. The essay written by Jo Parker was the most realistic and gave the clearest picture of what the homeless are like today. No longer is homelessness a choice for most people. It is something that comes from hard times and financial struggles. As Peter Marin suggests in his essay, there are some homeless today who have taken to the road by choice, but those are few and far between. Most common today are the homeless who have lost jobs, veterans, single parents, drug abusers, and disabled, just to mention a few. These are certainly not people who have chosen to be homeless. One main difference between the free spirited and the homeless is simply that back in the 1960’s and 70’s the free spirited had convictions that they felt they were portraying by living on the road. They felt that by speaking their minds at movements and holding various rallies, that they were showing others how wonderful it was to be free spirited and homeless. In today’s world, what voice do the homeless have? Are they homeless to prove a point? That is not very likely. The homeless today are silent people who are discriminated against and have no views that would be considered important. In a report done by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, it was estimated that three million men, women, and children would be homeless for at least some part of the year 2002. If these three million people were to raise their voice and have an opinion like those in decades before, it is hard to say what changes would be made. One of the reasons I listed for those who are homeless today was drug abuse. Often drug abuse begins for another reason, but eventually is the downfall which leads to homelessness. Drugs were also something that were common in the 60’s and 70’s, but in a very different way. Drugs were accepted by the culture during that time. Those who were free spirited often participated in drug use and it didn’t make them get any more homeless or poor than they already were. Drugs were not a reason for homelessness as they are now. John Kerry r...