From Clutter to Clarity: Your Clutter Could be Someone’s Saving Grace

2020 ushered in a very different meaning of the word home for everyone in the country. It transformed a shower and a place to keep your clothes into a prison for some. It was a place to realize true love and for others, in the most horrible of circumstances it became a hospital for the millions who ended up contracting Covid-19. It was still a roof over their heads where they could get out of the cold despite these horrible circumstances. Winter is upon us now for many and this begs the question, if home was all these things in a world where we have been ordered to stay home, what happens for those people who don’t have a home to be ordered to right now? This is something everyone should be thinking about.

For many, walking the streets of major cities and seeing those homeless souls begging on the streets for a dollar, praying they can collect enough to buy them their next meal was something we tried to ignore, however hard it may be. People turn their heads or walk away or past them barely acknowledging they are even there. If they were invisible when consumers swarmed the streets, imagine how invisible they have become when no one walks those streets they have been exiled to. There are far fewer to beg from, and those that they are begging from, chances are, are barely making ends meet themselves. Meals are scarce even for those who have a physical address to go to and the kicker is that you need a physical address to be able to obtain employment. The cycle continues and it’s getting worse as people are forced to stay home and have lost their jobs and the homeless population grows.

Walking on the street, pulling out a wad of cash and unfortunately no singles. Just tens and twenties. This year though, I decided it was worth it to leave the ten-dollar bill with the pan handler next door to me because that ten dollars may be the difference between a momentary reprieve from the cold to staying stuck freezing on the ice pile that has been shoveled into their corner. The corner where they live. Snow-plows pile the snow up next to the trashcans on the corners barely noticing the man and his cat sleeping on the crate he sits on day after day with an umbrella right next to it. All because they are invisible now more than they have ever been.

Many of us are staying home and staring at the clutter we have built up over the years that we find ourselves saying is “unbearable.” Well take comfort in that clutter and if it’s really getting to you, a great way to relieve your sense of claustrophobia would be to gather up the clutter you see invading your “whole world” and put it in a bag, If you have extra luggage you aren’t using? Maybe just for now, fill that luggage with the essentials we all hoarded, like hand sanitizer, masks, non-perishable items like soup, beans, crackers, or any other food items that don’t require refridgeration. Don’t forget females either, if you have extra feminine care products stick that in one of those suit-cases, socks, shoes, gloves, hats, jackets, thermal layers, thermos’, tooth brushes, toothpaste, soap, deodorant, water bottles, electrolyte drinks, extra camping equipment like sleeping bags, pillows you don’t use or need or are cluttering your couch. Take all of that and put it in that suitcase you don’t need or is just taking up space because you can create survival for the people you walk by that are enduring the cold. Especially now that you have the luxury of not walking by them. You don’t have to see it, but it is all our responsibility to care for each other. Go outside (wearing a mask) and hand that luggage to that person you ignored last year and give them a chance. A chance at survival, a chance at a next meal, a chance at feeling warm enough, or being covered the next time they sleep. Its clutter to you, it’s a miracle to them and remember, be grateful for the home you feel imprisoned by because some don’t even have that.