Homelessness is not who i am

I have noticed a pattern here. Someone has a bad encounter with an aggressive person and the first detail that gets highlighted is that they were homeless. From there the whole thread turns into people assuming all unhoused folks are the same and then everyone starts sharing a bad experience they had with a homeless person. That makes it look like homeless automatically equals bad, aggressive, and unapproachable. I am homeless myself, and that is not the reality. Homelessness is a circumstance, not a personality. Some people out here do struggle with addiction or mental illness, but many of us do not. Some are veterans. Some are working but cannot afford rent. Some just went through a rough break in life. When people generalize it makes life harder for those of us who are simply trying to survive quietly. It erases our humanity and makes it easier for society to look away instead of recognizing the full picture. It is fair to call out bad behavior when it happens. But those actions belong to individuals, not everyone without a place to live. At the end of the day, I am just a person without a roof over my head. That does not mean I am a threat. I hope you never have to experience what it feels like to lose your housing, but if you ever did, I know you would want to be seen as more than a stereotype!