Savior or supporter? I read an interesting comment on a post by the magnificent Megan Morris - another one of the amazing graphics and writer types I adore. We share the same sentiments when it comes to working with the homeless. The comment had to do with “savior or supporter.” And I agree. It’s easy to slip into the “savior” role rather than the support role. It requires a whole new mindset to see homeless people in transition, rather than as objects of pity that can’t or won’t change.

It reminds me of pregnant women in the 1950’s. My mother and other women told me they didn’t go out in public when they were pregnant, and television shows didn’t depict pregnant women (Until I Love Lucy) because a pregnant woman was seen as having “done the dirty deed,” to get “knocked up.” Pregnant was not a good state to be in, but once you had the child - you suddenly regained your status as “Mother,” and good person. Weird. Suddenly everyone “forgot” how the child got here (since sex wasn’t discussed much then) and the whole saintly motherhood angle kicked in.

I’m in that “pregnant pause” state….as was J.K. Rowling when she was knocking on publisher’s doors, and Steve Jobs when he was couch surfing with friends in college, or Steven Pressfield (who also lived in HIS Chevy van with his cat before becoming a “famous” author).

If you’re not really famous or rich yet, people tend to see you as weird, broke, needy, eccentric or crazy. Once you “make it” then you’re okay….like you finally “gave birth” and now you’re a creative mother! No one really wants to commit to you, or to supporting you (publicly anyway), until you have some success. It’s not like having a baby in the sense that something is definitely going to pop out. You may fizzle and remain unfulfilled potential. Who knows really.

I have some loyal friends who have been waiting a long time for the best-seller that’s half-written to be born…mostly because they want to see how it ends, but they also believe in me.

I digress. The thing is, millions of homeless people - the working homeless, the ones who really aren’t happy sleeping in shelters and wondering where their next meal is coming from - the ones who haven’t given up and checked out of life - those are the ones in transition, and maybe they all are really. Who’s to say? Ed Brenegar told me a story of an alcoholic he met and talked to in a parking lot who turned it around. Only God knows our hearts and our destinies. (I’ll post the story/link once Ed finishes writing it!)

They’re the next millionaires, the next best-selling authors, the next success story. And they’re all in a pregnant pause….and we’re all waiting and working for that birthday…when we become more than just knocked up creatives. That was the 50’s you know. Now we celebrate pregnancy (mostly) and women are just as admired for being pregnant - as for having their child. So why don’t we see the working homeless or even the homeless that way?

Isn’t it time to celebrate the transition? Like a video I saw the other day….the joy of music is in listening and dancing to the entire song….not just in hearing the final note. We can enjoy the journey, the cresendos and lulls in a musical piece….as we build towards the finish. Why not too in life? It’s all a song and repeating ourselves is a chorus. I’m in the van (at the beach this time rather than a Wal-Mart parking lot) singing my second chorus. What are you singing?