Re-Homed & Off the Edge: Update — Changing the Game We’re Playing

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So it’s been a little while since writing. I’m happy that I can report that things have been going pretty well for me so far this year. The clinic has been busier than ever, I’ve been painting regularly, and I’ve even been considering trading in the Mobile Closet for a smaller car! (Gasp!!!) I know it would be a big step, but I think it might be time.

It’s hard to believe but it’s been almost a year since becoming re-homed. In general I have been enjoying my relative anonymity. Though I might not be rehashing it all in word there are plenty of ways it comes back. There are reminders of what I’m grateful for, like hot showers when it’s been cold recently! Plus there are numerous times that I listen to people in despair and it seems right to share a small portion of my story with them. Most of the time they are taken aback that it happened to me. And it’s tricky to share because I want them to gain confidence in themselves, not to have pity or remorse on my behalf. But it has a strong effect, so I do share when it seems safe to do so.

But I’ve also been grateful for the steadiness. In part it comes from a feeling of being invested in my life, my home. That investment is what is mostly missing from the homeless stories. If you recall, I wrote many times before about an underlying depression and heartbreak among people in homeless circumstances. I still reflect on that and how lacking so many people are in the most basic of investments: the belief that you are worth more than your possessions, or lack thereof. And to be honest with you I don’t see that this lack of belief is only found among the people with bags and shopping carts…

I still applaud the work being done by shelters, social workers, and the community in general to streamline efforts in providing services. But I’d like to offer up one reminder for all, and that is to keep reiterating the most basic of principle behind this all: we need to give people of homeless circumstance a reason to re-invest in the rest of us. We need to set the baseline of our actions in respect for one another and ourselves, and extend that by example as a form of leadership that just might inspire more than the people that already like us. Put aside notions of clout and systems and invest in being human. Even more than solving homelessness, we need to heal all the hopelessness out there.

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About the Author

  • Joe Bright
    Joe Bright
    Joe Bright is a graduate of Iolani School and went on to study art at The Cooper Union School of Art in New York City, and later Chinese medicine at The American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in San Francisco. Joe currently runs a small acupuncture clinic, Kama’aina Acupuncture in Kapahulu as the first dedicated low-cost “community acupuncture” clinic in Honolulu. Joe has a varied background that has included working as a bicycle mechanic, freelance artist, teaching calligraphy and Tai Chi, a nanny, and even a CEO of a small entrepreneurial company. He continues to create art, even having work recently appear at the Honolulu Academy of Arts as well the Bishop Museum. He also continues with entrepreneurial projects when possible and serves on the Board of Directors for a local Buddhist meditation organization, Vipassana Hawai’i.
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