STV - Realize That This Is Paradise

It´s been so long....
So long since I saw your face.
You were always there,
There at the corner.
Always that friendly smile,
We treated each other each morning,
Now you are gone,
Now I realize I never knew your name.

---

Now that is not my attempt to be poetic, that is a true story that came to mind when I saw this post by: @jesalmofficial

The post dismembers this song by Phil Collins:

When I heard it first back in the day I loved this song, although back then homeless people were something that you saw in the US, not in my life. Maybe just that odd hobo that chooses to live the lifestyle but other than that it did not exist.

That was 1989 and the US is always a couple of years ahead compared to The Netherlands.

A little bit of research

So data is always tricky but there was a good source stating homeless people in The Netherlands doubled from 17K to 34K between 2009 and 2018. That might sound like a lot it is not bad compared with the US but let´s not do that.

Let´s take those numbers and see if my reality when "Another Day in Paradise" was released made sense. If we doubled in 10 years, we probably doubled in the previous twenty years, hence when I was listening to Phil we had 8K homeless people in a country with 15 million humans.

During those 30 years, we added 3 million peeps to an already small country which was an increase of 20% and that would mean we should now have 10K homeless people and not 30K.

There are plenty of explanations but the bottom line is that this number keeps growing because we do not take proper care of each other. Not even in a wealthy country like The Netherlands.

Of course, some people prefer living on the street, but most do not.
Of course, there is help, but it will mean that you have to follow all the rules.

Still, I admit if you really want help, if you are patient and follow the rules there is help. They can help you get on your feet again and find a roof above your head. But it might cause you to be homeless for quite some time as the wheels of the machine turn very slowly.

Talking Numbers

Back to the little story, I started this post with. Because when I moved to Spain I did notice something....... an enormous increase in so-called homeless people and beggars.

Now not every beggar is homeless and not every homeless begs, but it´s Sunday morning and I will keep it simple.

Now I was very surprised when the numbers did not meet my expectations. Only 40,000 people in Spain (0.09% of the population). And just like in the Netherlands immigrants make up a disproportionate number of the homeless population.

Just to get your facts straight, Spain had at least twice the amount of people but not twice the amount of homeless people .... on paper.

The Spanish are good in counting in such a way things look positive, but even if you would do a proper count you probably end up with 60K. Meaning even though I think there are more homeless in Spain the numbers tell me I am wrong.

Bottom Line

So why do I see so many more beggars and homeless people on the street here?
Well, I guess the weather makes it easier to just sit with a sign on the sidewalk all day. Secondly, it´s more common to beg here, and thirdly when I came to Spain and move to a big city it was around the time that the numbers started to increase rapidly.

Just to compare Spain has 0,09 vs the US:

In 2018, the Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated roughly 553,000 homeless people in the United States on a given night, or 0.17 percent of the population.

And that was 2018...

So we get the picture, the numbers of homeless people keep increasing but in all honesty, it´s less than I expected. The fact that they all seem to gather in big cities colored my perception.

I am going to make a very bold statement; Being homeless in Europe feels like living in paradise.

What I mean is when I think about certain places in the world where kids are growing up without parents, where torture and rape are considered part of life. Where children don't go to school but learn to kill and fight for their warlord.

Thinking about those places I really get why people do everything to flee those countries and move to the EU or the US, because you rather be homeless in paradise than have a house in hell.

And don´t tell me I can not judge because I always had a roof above my head.
I have been homeless myself.
Outside of my own doing I ended up on the street, depending on friends to let me spend the night at their place for many months.

Been there indeed, and ever since I value the roof above my head a lot more, and I panic when that roof is in danger.

After losing my place for the first time, it happened twice more. Twice I needed to leave my rental place because the owner had other plans. It feels like being threatened, especially when having a job and a family but possibly no place to call home.

I got away with it twice, although the second time I was in the fortunate position to stop renting and buy something myself.

Neil Young said a man needs a maid, but I think mankind needs a roof, a place to call his own.

A safe place that can not be taken away from you for no other reason than a landlord deciding to do so.

A little piece of paradise, in a F´ed up world.

My Mother used to play this song when I was little, I liked it a lot back then but I like it so much more today. It was the song that popped in while I was thinking about today´s story:

Invite

Part of the Spread The Vibe challenge is to invite, now my apartment is too small to invite you all but I invite you to think about a wise man's words:

Quote 'The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.'

What is Spread The Vibes

If you want to know more about the Spread The Vibe Challenge not A challenge please clikerdeeclick me

Thank goodness you made it till the end peace, love and I am out of here!

[Source Pic](All pictures are by MyI & AI)