It's embarrassing

I made another unhoused friend today. Jon is a tattoo artist who suffered a chronic injury his thumb a year ago and can’t do his work anymore as a result. He only recently became homeless. He told me the same thing I’ve heard from so many unhoused folks I’ve talked to over the last year. It’s embarrassing. And I always tell them some version of the same thing. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. You’re still a person with worthy and deserving of kindness and love. You didn’t fail. The system failed you. You know what’s embarrassing? A country that allows billionaires (and a fucking trillionaire) to exist while people who run into a health problem don’t have food or shelter. A country that spends billions building bombs and AI data centers and UFC stadiums instead of providing affordable housing and affordable food. A country that calls itself “the greatest country on earth” shouldn’t have a single fucking person living outside who doesn’t want to be doing so of their own free…