When looking at the reasons why a homeless person would rather camp out on the street rather than go to a shelter, a key reason is to be free.
There are many different ways of understanding freedom. I want to describe four. (I am purposely not going to name my sources. I will leave that a mystery. It is the ideas that are important.) Great thinkers though the ages have seen freedom as a key human motivation.
An 18th century German thinker saw freedom as being centered in the human decision-making process. I deliberate about my desires, beliefs, values, friends, etc., and freely choose a course of action.
A 19th century British thinker thought freedom resided in the environment or circumstances in which one lived. Set up your environment to maximize your choices.
A third form of freedom, described by a 20th century German existentialist, believed that freedom consists in honest interpersonal relationships. If I am totally honest with you, and you with me, we are free to talk about anything.
A 20th century French existentialist imagined a situation where one army has a second army trapped behind some hills. Yet the trapped army through intelligence and ingenuity manages to escape the army with the seeming advantage. This fourth form of freedom I call reverse-trap-strategy freedom.
Thus we have four forms of freedom: decision-making, circumstance freedom, relational freedom and reverse-trap-strategy freedom. While it is easy to understand and use the first three kinds of freedom, it seems to me that the tent-dweller would find reverse-trap-strategy thinking the best to improve his or her situation.
However, I don’t want to underestimate the tent-dweller. In America we have a long tradition of people who want to live close to nature. Some want to rebel against society. The Wild West of 150 years ago is often a model for modern homelessness. America was built on independence and belief in pursuing your own dream. Poverty often leads one to live in a tent. There are many reasons a person may believe justifies becoming a tent-dweller.
The trouble comes when a person can't live up to their dreams. Some illnesses are devastating (mental or physical). The lure of using drugs (prescription or otherwise) can throw a person's life off course. Losing one or more of your parents at an early age can be crushing. And frankly some parents have no skills or interest in raising children.
Falling into homelessness becomes a trap that is difficult to escape. For the rebellious, the sick, or the broken a tent might come as a relief from bad situations. However, pursuing a reverse-trap strategy for your life can free you from being homeless.
In reality, homelessness is the least free situation a person could be in, next to being in jail. Lacking resources you cannot have a decent life. The temptation to thievery or crime is strong. However, the burden of committing a crime is un-free. Confession usually frees one from this burden, as many criminals are surprised to find out as the police confront them.
The crime victim also loses their freedom. Depending on the nature of the crime, they sometimes spend a good portion of their lives stuck in the un-freedom of their victimization. Finding justice may provide closure, but freedom often depends on the experience of forgiveness.
And then there is suicide. This is where it is crucial to get help. With help or with hard thinking, work out a reverse-trap-strategy for yourself. If you put together an army of support for yourself, then it is always possible, if you are suicidal, to escape your trap and live to tell about it. (I know this is not easy.)
Much of life can be painful, anxiety-ridden, depressing, fraught with frustration and disappointment. There was once a time when a down-trodden person would turn to religion. Sometimes, however, religion can be the trapping phenomenon. If your religion becomes un-believable or shackles you, then turn to poetry, art or music. Some turn to philosophy or psychology. Reading philosophy has traditionally been a way to find meaning for your life. People today would be wise to re-discover philosophy and great thinkers.
In the meantime, please ask your son or daughter, “Do you feel trapped?”
Gary Leimback
Gary Leimback is a retired computer technical writer who went through a period of homelessness and now works to make philosophy practical and realistic.