Photographs: Celebrate Christmas by Helping Homeless Near You

Before becoming the merchant’s holiday, Christmas, or the winter solstice celebration in pagan civilizations, was a time to reflect and be grateful for what one had. But when you have nothing at all, it is hard to be grateful and merry. Next year, thousands more people will become homeless in the United States: women, entire families, and mostly children. They will live in squalor and rely on private and religious charity. In the US, homelessness has reached an epidemic proportion. This is not only a symptom of a broken social system, but also a shame for a nation that is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human rights. Wealth inequality, together with the sort of extreme poverty that forces millions to live on less than $2 a day are fast growing. For the millions of homeless people in cities of the US, photographs express the loss of dignity, anguish, and suffering louder than words. The homeless are invisible to some people who do not understand that, in our current social-Darwinist context, and with the ravages of climate change, anyone may become destitute at any time.

 

Editor’s Note: All photographs by Gilbert Mercier.