Analysis Of Becky Blanton’s TED Talk “The Year I Was Homeless”
“There will never be enough money to give each person the house, the job, the school fees that they need, but we always have enough humanity to treat one another with the respect and dignity that we all deserve” (Aristide).
This short film is about a real-life story of a woman who became homeless. Her story is fascinating because she was so good at what she did. She was a writer and a very talented one at that, but she decided to quit her job after her dad had died. People react to the death of their family all very, but there is a percentage of people who after their parents, siblings, or friends die they go into an emotional state where they can't work, can't focus and can't get anything done. They end up losing jobs and money and become homeless. In her story, she had to go through the different miserable seasons of the year. During the summer she would be hot, and during the winter she would be cold. She talks about how she had gotten very sick but wouldn't give up her animals to have a better life. She talks about how she got in trouble with the police multiple times which lead to even more misery. She was finally able to get out of the situation that she was in, of being homeless, when she realized that all she needed was hope. Hope guided her to where she's going to be, with the skills that she has had, which allowed her to become an even better writer, journalist, and speaker. “I drove off in the sunset, having fully failed to realize three critical things. One: that society equates living in a permanent structure, even a shack, with having value as a person. Two: I failed to realize how quickly the negative perceptions of other people can impact our reality if we let it. Three: I failed to realize that homelessness is an attitude, not a lifestyle”.
This quote talks about three things that she found out on her journey of being homeless. She found out that others around don't react well when they see people sleeping in their cars. They devalue them as a human being. They look at them like they are worthless and nothing. They make them feel alone and unwanted. She then realizes because of these negative thoughts from others it negatively impacted her and what she believed. She started to give in and understand what these people are saying that she was worthless and nothing. Which we know is not true. Finally, she realized that there is hope. She saw that homelessness isn't a lifestyle that you can choose or not choose, but it is an attitude that you put on yourself when you have no hope left. “Thousands of people work full and part-time jobs and live in their cars. But society continues to stigmatize and criminalize living in your vehicle or on the streets. So the homeless, the working homeless, primarily remain invisible. But if you ever meet one, engage them, encourage them, and offer them hope. The human spirit can overcome anything if it has hope… people are not where they live, where they sleep, or what their life situation is at any given time”
In another quote, she talked about how important hope is for the human spirit. She wants us to realize that a lot of people, more than we expect to live in their cars. Some people don't have enough to pay for all the expenses that come along with a house, plus the costs that come along with the vehicle. So they have to give one up. In understanding the amount of how much homelessness we don’t see around us, shows how we don't know how to help these people better. How are we supposed to help them if we can't even understand them? The homeless become invisible in our eyes, which gives them more shame and less confidence when they need to realize that they are part of a community that wants to help. Doing that helps creates hope for the future, hope for the present, to get away from the past and be new again.
