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Comment by derekbreden | Hacker News Reader

I imagine it’s easier to go from middle/upper class to homeless and then bounce back, than it is to bounce back to a place you’ve never been.

For my own homeless experiences (~5 years), I was able to jump back because of work history and experience that would not have existed if my life had started out otherwise.

More cross-the-tracks experiences would undoubtedly make the world a more tolerant, understanding, and uplifting place to live. Though I can’t say I’d wish my personal trauma on any specific person. I’m thankful for the perspective gained, but it would be easier to prescribe if there were less long-term-costly means of gaining it.

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For those who haven't experienced homelessness personally, doing volunteer (or paid) work for homeless shelters/outreach centers etc, or in mental health treatment centers, is one of the best ways to gain a fairly deep perspective, and get close to feeling what that perspective feels like, without actually walking a mile in those painful, broken shoes.

My homeless experience was incredibly brief (4-5 months) compared to the struggles of so many people I met during that time, but it had profound, permanent effects on my level of empathy I feel towards people still going through it. If you are struggling in your own life, dealing with depression or anxiety despite your white collar and comfortable financial situation, it can be a humbling and powerful experience to meet people who have no money, no friends, no family, and no support, not even from their own minds. Helping serve food at a shelter or something in that ballpark can be incredible for learning more about yourself as well as those folks, and you both gain from that relationship.

If actually interacting with with homeless people takes you too far outside your comfort zone, I spent two years trying to get a homeless person off the street and made a movie about it:

http://graceofgodmovie.com/

So you can just watch that.

Yes. This is a really excellent movie. I have seen it. I highly recommend it.

Thanks, DM!

Is it possible to watch this movie outside of the USA?

Depends on where. It should be available in the UK and Canada. It's not available in Germany because of some weird requirement that I was not able to meet (closed captions in German or something like that). Where are you trying to access it from?

It’s a wonderful movie about a difficult topic. Great job.

Thank you for making it and for sharing it here—I watched it based on this recommendation, and it was well worth the watch.

Thank you! If you wouldn't mind leaving a review, I would really appreciate it.

Certainly. I will leave a review on iTunes.

Thanks!

Given that there is a pandemic on and volunteer work is problematic, I will add that I had a college class on Homelessness and Public Policy. The primary text for it was called "Tell them who I am."

It tells the stories of homeless women and was written by a man dying of cancer who decided to spend his last days doing something more meaningful to him than punching a clock.

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