James Bond and other famous homeless people

One of the many things I'm dealing with now are the North Carolina stereotypes about homeless people.  Around here, there are several weird, cultural beliefs about homeless people.  First, there's the age old stereotype that all homeless people are lazy drunks or addicts.  There was a time, 50 or 60 years ago, when the majority of homeless probably were.  Jobs were plentiful and paid well back then, and it took a lot more of a screw up to wind up without a place to live.

Another crazy idea about homeless people here is that people are homeless because God is punishing them.  This belief, which I've only run into in the American South, aka The Bible Belt, gives people an excuse to not help homeless people.  So we wind up with Christians who go to church every Sunday, devoted to a religion following the teachings of Jesus, who told his followers to "Love your neighbor as yourself."  But this concept that God is punishing homeless people instructs Christians to actually go out of their way to not help people who are down and out.  Whomever first pushed this an idea was an asshole, and will likely get a Gorilla Pimp Slap upside the head from Jesus in the afterlife.

Another common belief about homeless people here is that "they lost."  I've heard several people share the idea that people are homeless because they took the "wrong path in life," and can never, EVER, under any circumstances, come back into society and get back to a "normal" life.  This is ridiculous on so many levels, I don't even know where to start.

The reality is that there are 2 1/2 to 3 MILLION people in the United States who are homeless each year.  But only about 800,000 are homeless at any given time.  The majority of people are only homeless for a few weeks.  Most people who become homeless wind up there because of some kind of tragedy.  It could be a job loss, a bad divorce, catastrophic medical bills, a house fire, or loss of their home to a natural disaster like a flood or hurricane.  Most of these people have either the financial resources or a support system of family and friends that help them through this rough period.  They a technically homeless for a while, and then they get an apartment or house, and get back into society and a traditional life.

Some people fall further through the cracks, most often because of a lack of social support system.  These are the long term and chronic homeless.  I'm one of those right now.  Like the people in the clip above, I have a talent that should make me a decent living at some point in the future.  In my case, I have developed an style of artwork with Sharpie markers that is totally original, and is interesting to a large number of people.  I'm working 7 days a week to both draw and promote my work.  I'm now making consistent money at it, just not enough money to rent an apartment or "cheap" motel room on a permanent basis... yet.  But I'll get there.  I know this because I've done it before, at times when I didn't have the creative body of work I have now. 

I woke up in a tent in  the woods on this chilly morning.  But I woke up STOKED about what I was going to do today.  I already won.  The room or apartment or house will come.  The money will come.  I've already won, because I'm doing what I love, and I have a whole bunch of other stuff I want to do in the future.  I'd much rather be in my position then to be a well-to-do but miserable, bitter person waking up in a big bed, in a big house, under high thread count sheets made from expensive Egyptian cotton.  The chances of me making the money and getting a decent place to live are much higher than the chances of a middle aged, bitter person breaking through their personal denial and actually confronting their personal issues. 

I'm not talking about anyone in particular, but I'm sure some of the people I've met in recent months hear things like this from their friends and relatives they tell about me.  Haters gonna hate.  Let 'em hate.  I got drawings to do.

Here are three more famous people who were once homeless:

This painter slept on park benches in California on his first nights in the U.S..

This guy and his wife lived in their car for three weeks once, and then lived in another couple's basement for several months while creating a business plan that later made them very wealthy.  They now of thousands of rental properties and several businesses.

This former street performer slept on a park bench when first traveling in Europe as a young man.  The performance business he helped found not only helped him travel around the world, it enabled him to travel into space.

I've personally met two of these last three people.  I know what's possible.  The haters don't.