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In my twenty years and some months existence in this world, I’ve been fortunate enough to live a secured life. I believe food and shelter are two of the most important essentials in life, and I’ve never had to worry about food not being on the table or if I had a place to sleep at night which is why I consider myself to have a secure life. Volunteering at Simpson Housing helped me realize many things in life, and also made me wonder why some people are so fortunate in life while others struggle to survive in this world. Prior to Simpson Housing, I was vaguely familiar with the issue of homelessness. I only knew the basis of it, but never fully understood it. There are a lot of misconceptions and stereotypes about the homeless and I’ve learned that you can’t really judge until you’ve experienced it. You hear a lot of bad things about homeless people- they’re lazy, drug addicts, bums, freeloaders, etc†¦ It’s easy to focus on the bad because you remember the bad more than the good. It must be hard for homeless people because they are pre-judged without even getting to be known. They get rejected before getting a chance. I will admit that I did believe some of the misconceptions of homeless people because I had one negative experience. When I was younger, my family and I used to go eat at Rainbow, a Chinese restaurant, in Minneapolis. We always went at night and on the way home, there was a strip where all the homeless people would camp out. I couldn’t believe people had to live like that. I’ve had several encounters with homeless people where they’d come up to me asking for money until this once incident. I was with my dad and this lady and her son approached us asking for some help. I had always given a dollar or two before, but I saw she had a son so I convinced my dad to give them five dollars. They seemed to be really gracious of our donation and we felt really good about helping them. Five minutes later, we saw the lady and her son drive away in a brand new Toyota Camry. My dad and I were completely stunned. I was so angry. There are so many others that could’ve used the money we had given. The lady took advantage of us, and completely had no morals whatsoever. However, that did not stop me from wanting to give help to the needy. Instead of giving them money, I give them food. I know it’s not exactly that same, but I still do feel that I am helping them. ... ... but I certain some people have no control over it and that really saddens me. My heart goes out to homeless children because they are so young. They have so much more to worry about when they should only be focusing on having fun as a child and getting their education. However; instead of being able to focus on school, they have to focus on surviving.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Life isn’t fair, but then again what is in life? Situations like homelessness is not something many can touch base with, but it is something we can all take part in to help reduce it. No one deserves to live a life where nothing at all is certain. With so many mistaken beliefs on homeless people, those who are fortunate in life need to realize that those who are homeless are strong in heart. They don’t give up and they keep living each day in hope for a better tomorrow. I’ve learned through volunteering at Simpson Housing is that you have to take the good with the bad and learn from it all. Don’t let the bad hold you down and you should embrace it and turn it into something positive. Whatever may come your way, you should appreciate it because it only helps you grow into the person you are to become.