Limited options

Powerlessness

I went to a film at the Human Rights festival last night and was reminded of a concept I learned about when I did a social work course and have seen as a reality in real life. There is a poverty that revolves around the "choices that are open to a person". The two films I watched were about homelessness. We often look at homeless people and think, "It is their fault." or "It's a choice they made." Some interviews with homeless people indicated some of the options open to them. There was a man, not now homeless (29 year old) who as a 14 year old boy was getting beaten by his step father at home and virtually was thrown out on the streets. If he went to authorities they may well take him back to his parents. First he lived in a make shift shelter in bush near his parent's home and then in another one by the rail tracks in Christchurch. He could not earn money. He could return home and get beaten. What were the options open to him? He chose to live on the streets. He chose to be involved in petty crime to stop himself from starving. What were his options? To live in a dangerous situation and face hell? Given those choices we all would end up where he was. Another woman with a son lived in hell. She kept hoping it would get better, but every time she came through her front door she dreaded the hell and abuse waiting for her and her child. While being interviewed now, years after the event, her memories brought back the tears. We may look down on her and say, "It was her choice! She had a home to go to." But what were her options? If we ended up in the same situation, what options would we see before us? I need to remember that with some of the folk I deal with. Their options in life, because of the situations they were born into, because of the events that happened to them, will have often been much more difficult and much more limited than mine. Even people with addictions. It could be either the relative comfort of addictions or the reality of the hopelessness and hell of life without them. Their options are not mine. I need to assist them by opening the way for other options, enabling them to see the possibilities.