We went on summer vacation recently. One of the places we visited was San Diego, CA.
Now don’t get me wrong, Mommy Powers LOVES San Diego! There is so much to do there, and the beaches are wonderful. You can tour US Naval ships, go to Sea World or take the kids to Legoland, just to name a few. If you’re like me, one of your first stops is the beach!
We have visited San Diego before, this was not our first time there…but it was my first time looking around, I mean really looking around. Looking past all the touristy stuff, and what I saw shocked and saddened me.
We arrived in San Diego late at night, it was almost midnight actually. We got our rental car and made our way to the hotel. We stayed in downtown San Diego. What I saw as we drove to our hotel hurt my soul. They were everywhere, on every street we passed, on every sidewalk. They are the homeless of San Diego.
Neither I nor my spouse could believe what we were seeing, the sidewalks were lined with homeless people. Some were laying on cardboard, some on blankets and some on the bare concrete. Most of them were already asleep, a few were still awake. I thought about pulling out my camera and taking a photo, just so I’d have “proof”… but I was literally in shock at the number of people I was seeing sleeping on the sidewalks. My husband mumbled something about, “I hope this place looks better in the daylight.” I just could not wrap my mind around the sheer number of homeless people I was seeing.
The next day, we awoke, looked out the window and all looked well. I guess everyone had already gotten up and cleared the sidewalks…you never would have known they were there just a few hours earlier. We began our sight-seeing and I noticed a large number of shelters and soup kitchens in the nearby vicinity. I also noticed homeless mulling around on the street corners, playing cards, dominoes. We went on a bus tour of San Diego and at one of the stoplights, there was a rather large congregation of people gathered on the sidewalk, just hanging out. A few of the tourists on the bus were staring at them, when one shouted out, “Yes, we are the homeless people of San Diego!” Again, I thought about taking photos, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I didn’t feel it was the right thing to do, I did not want to strip them of whatever small speck of dignity they might still be holding on to. (In the future, if I feel led to photograph a homeless person, I will do it-but I do not believe it would have been the right thing to do in this instance.)
The daytime was a lot easier for me to handle than nighttime. As soon as the sun began to set, hordes of homeless would seemingly appear out of thin air. All of them looking for just the right spot on the sidewalk to settle in for the night. My heart ached as I looked at them, wondering what each of their stories were. How did they end up out on the street? Did they have any family? Do their family members know where they are? So many questions flooded my mind. I wanted to do something for them, anything, I wanted to help them. I wanted them to know that I cared and that I valued their lives. But I didn’t know what to do. How do you help that many people? I prayed for them, asking God to keep them safe.
All those people came from somewhere, they are someone’s brother, father, mother, sister, son, daughter, someone’s baby. Something went wrong in their life and now they are sleeping on the sidewalks in downtown San Diego. I may not be able to reach out to each and every one of them, but I can write about them. I can spread the word and hopefully draw attention to their plight. These people need help, they need a place to live. They are human beings, just like you and me.
Have you recently visited San Diego? Did you notice the large homeless population?
There but for the Grace of God, go I.
