Forgotten Faces

Alienation is more than a by-product of modern life and nowhere is that more visible than in the forgotten faces of the homeless who live on the streets of America’s cities. Amidst all our prosperity, hiding in the bowels of parking garages and littered underneath our bridges, lives a class of untouchables. Like modern day lepers, these outcasts survive on the fringe of society living off scraps, trash, and handouts. 

I’ve taught myself how to sit at a traffic light and not make eye contact with a person who is standing on the side of the road holding a cardboard sign and begging for help. I’ve learned how to politely say no when someone who is wearing not much more than tattered rags walks up to me and asks if I have any spare change. By being homeless, a person may have lost a small fraction of their dignity, but each time I turn away from helping someone in need, I lose a portion of my humanity. 

We try to sanitize our perspective of the homeless by using phrases like:

“Our disadvantaged neighbors in need.” 

“The forgotten in our communities.”

“Our unhoused brothers and sisters.”

But the sharp reality is that most of us have learned to view the homeless among us as little more than urban pollution. By taking the time to draw a portrait of someone who is homeless, I choose to look closer at what society chooses to discard.