How a Homeless Teenager Taught A Great Life Lesson

To me, homelessness isn't something you are born into, its something you walk into. Either way each one usually isn't a choice, being born and being homeless that is.

About four years ago, I met a young man named Paul, he was my baby sitter's brother and we instantly became friends. He was a wild child with a lot of problems and a lot of baggage. His mother was a stroke victim at the early age of 32, resulting in her being a quadriplegic. This left Paul to help raise his sister, take care of his mom being an invalid and keeping the house going by fixing dinner and doing laundry. At 14, this wasn't the idea of a happy normal teenage life.

As Paul grew a little older, he rebelled, he quit school in the 10^th grade and constantly fought with his dad and his sister. Mainly because his Dad put his mom in a nursing home and Paul knew it wasn't right. Basically the home life was very rough so he left, he came back several times only to get kicked out and have the cops called on him by his dad and sister.

At 17, he bounced from house to house and in and out of jail for probation violations and tickets, he would always find a place to sleep by staying with friends and relatives for a little bit and bopping all over the place trying not to wear out his welcome, but they grew tired of having him around all the time. He tried to stay out of trouble but trouble followed him everywhere.

When I met him, I was instantly was drawn into helping him and being his friend. I watched him go from house to house and even had him staying with me for a while. My family could only stand so much and then they became furious that he couldn't hold down a decent job or find a place to live on his own. "For such a young man he should be doing something better for himself" they said.

It hurt me to send him out on the streets in the bitter Michigan cold. There were so many times I was on my way to work at 8 am and I would find him walking his daily 8 miles to town to fill out job applications and report to his probation officer. One day the snow was coming down so hard, that he couldn't see in front of him hardly and almost got hit.