Ragged, dirty, alcoholic, crazy, worthless – these are all words I have heard be used to describe homeless people. Whether true or not, they are insufficient. These are surface observations, assumptions. They are wrong because they are demeaning. Artist, mother, uncle, athlete, college graduate, sibling, friend, marathon runner, adventurer, nurse, and the list goes on. Homeless people are likely to have once lived similar lives to us. They have accomplishments, families and dreams. Most importantly, they have feelings. They love, and they hurt. Each and every single one of them has a story – a story you should try to be aware of before you judge them so harshly.

Many of us are guilty of avoiding homeless people. Some of us stare at them with judgement in our eyes, and some of us look away with pity. The ones looking with judgement, or maybe even fear, are disregarding the human behind the rags. They only see a monster. A monster who is posing as an obstacle that must be overcome in order to cross the road. Those who look away with pity do so in order to ignore the problem they do not feel competent enough or required to fix. I am guilty of both, as most of you probably are, as well.

Homeless people are people. This is something a lot of us know, yet we still need to be reminded of it because we often disregard this fact. While volunteering with homeless people and low-income families in Berkley, Oakland, and the Tenderloin district, I finally saw the humanity behind all of the rags. People. That is all they are, and that is what they deserve to be treated like. My trip was life changing. I got to see homeless people from a new perspective – a brighter perspective. I conversed with them, I laughed with them and most importantly, I learned their stories. I spent half an hour listening to a woman tell me about how she lost everything, including her kids, due to her addiction to drugs. She genuinely regretted her poor decisions in life that led her to where she was. She wanted nothing more than to just see her children and be able to embrace one last time. Her story is heartbreaking, but it made me see that she is human.

The majority of them just want to be recognized. They want to feel as important as they once did. A simple smile can make their whole day. They want to know that you know they are people, too. Everybody deserves compassion, even the homeless woman sobbing and screaming at the top of her lungs about something that may seem trivial to you. Challenge yourself to see homeless people with a new perspective because for all you know, you might be able to connect with some of them. Also, remember to always see the human behind the rags.