While I have been fortunate enough to never have to experience being homeless, I have encounter homeless people both in my day to day life and when I used to volunteer at a food pantry. At the pantry, I usually helped with the bagging and distribution of the food, so I got to personally interact with the people there. On any given Saturday, between 100 and 300 people would show up to get their weekly groceries. They would file into the church basement by themselves or with their families and wait for their number to be called so they could get their food. I distinctly remember being a little startled how friendly everyone was, both as a “surly” New Yorker and due to the stigma often associated with homelessness. I found that the more that I volunteered at the food pantry, the harder it was for me to traverse the city and my everyday life without consciously registering the sheer number of homeless people around me.

As average New Yorkers going about everyday life, certain things become very commonplace. We don’t blink at flashmobs, parades, protests, or performances that spring up in front of us on the street. We walk by iconic buildings and busloads of tourists while texting on our phone or rushing for the subway. We also barely glance at the homeless people who inhabit our city. We encounter them every day on the sidewalk, in the parks, and particularly on the subway. While we may feel a twinge of sympathy as we walk by, we are soon swept up in our fast-paced lives and forget before we reach the next corner. Sadly, observing other human beings in need of help has become so normal that we either don’t notice them to begin with or only register them superficially before moving on. This normalization of homelessness, as well as the stigmatization and stereotypes of laziness, drunkenness, and mental illness associated with it, has created a sense of apathy and indifference towards those in our city and across the US who may need assistance to get back on their feet or to simply survive in this “nation of plenty”.