The Challenges of ICRH

Everyday I walk to and from class, I see a man collecting cans out of the garbage. Ironically, a great deal of the homeless people in Mount Pleasant are CMU graduates. This community struggles with the ideals of wanting to improve the community, but not wanting the homeless shelter near them. In a way, they defend them, but leave them with no place to stay. I have been thinking of different ways to get the community okay with having a stationary homeless shelter and all I can really come up with is having set guidelines. Honestly there's no way for us to help them if we're constantly worried about helping ourselves. Yes we live in a "dog eat dog" type world, but I'm guessing it takes a little more than feeling bad. It takes the ability to feel sympathetic....maybe if they were aware of the fact that most of the homeless population included CMU graduates, then maybe we'd be on the right step to getting them to open up more and then maybe the homeless shelter can be more tangible than an epiphany. Simply because it's more of a "wow that could've easily been me" reaction rather than a "I'm thankful it's not me". All in all, it's about getting the people to be a tad more selfless than selfish.