By Hyon O’Brien

Recently we moved from Seoul to Florida after 13 years of living in Asia. The other day, taking advantage of a warm sunny day in the trendy South Beach area of Miami Beach, we looked around for an outdoor eating place, of which there are many.

While we were waiting for our food to arrive, one old homeless man approached our table and asked for some change. The maître d’ immediately appeared and shooed him away. This happened again a few days later at another location. Since my husband and I have been involved in helping the homeless for the past twenty years in New Jersey, Hong Kong and Seoul, this incident did not pass unnoticed. I guess I naively had not expected to find the situation of homelessness in this affluent resort-like region of America.

It seems that homelessness is a global phenomenon. It is estimated that 100 million people are homeless around the world, and America alone had about 670,000 homeless people according to a 2008 report by the United States Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Who are the homeless people? How did they become that way? What can we, ordinary citizens, do about this unacceptable situation?

It seems that there are different types of homeless people. The chronically homeless are those with repeated episodes or who have been homeless for long periods. Some drug addicts, alcoholics and mentally disabled people belong to this group. However, most cases of homelessness do not involve the chronically homeless, but are people who recently lost their jobs and can’t pay the monthly rent, and so were evicted by their landlords. If provided with assistance or employment promptly, these people can escape homelessness rather quickly.

Our Presbyterian church in New Jersey got involved in Bergen County’s inter-religious effort to help the homeless, and church members volunteered weekly to shelter those in need. By sharing with other organizations, it was not too burdensome for any one church to shelter those homeless families. When I talked to some of those families we housed, I found out how vulnerable ordinary people who live from paycheck to paycheck are. I discovered that poverty is not a condition exclusively reserved for any particular group of people in the society. A couple of unlucky breaks, including accidental disability, can lead a family into this horrible homeless state.

What’s even more horrible is the loss of self-esteem, hopelessness and despair one develops from the loss of home combined with the cold shoulder of society. 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa (1910-1997) put it this way: ``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 home to remedy this kind of poverty.”

When I was volunteering in a Hong Kong shelter for the homeless, the language barrier meant that my main activity was to play ping pong and sing with them. We were helping them to interact with outside people to preserve people skills and also helping them to feel that they were not completely forgotten by society. In Korea, we were active at a shelter for homeless men near Seoul Railroad Station.

When young Koreans and foreigners came to spend time with them, these men were afforded a slice of normal life and a sense of ordinary days in their otherwise alien and isolated social setting. The basic human need for warmth, connectedness and safety were temporarily charged into their system and it seemed to boost their desire to continue striving to get out of their homeless situation by trying harder. Fortunately I have seen some of these people get restored back into society with the consistent help of civic-minded people.

What Mother Teresa said always encourages me to stay involved in the work to help the homeless wherever I go. “We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love. Together we can do something wonderful.”

So my beloved readers, have you seen a homeless person lately? Were you uncomfortable? Will you do something about it, even if it is only something small? Look for ways to help the homeless and others in need. In an ideal society, homelessness would not be present, but none of us lives in an ideal society. So as a person to whom much is given, much is required. During this American Thanksgiving season, and throughout the year for that matter, it is right and good to express our gratitude for our abundance by sharing with others who are less fortunate.

My own comfort, my own sense of well being will be doubly meaningful if the comfort and well being of others are recognized and preserved as well. Indeed together we can do something wonderful.

Hyon O'Brien is a former reference librarian in the United States. She can be reached at hyonobrien@gmail.com.