Motel Living

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/us/11motel.html

Our family has been involved in the horror of homelessness since 2004, when the Tent City IV encampment first moved to the East Side of King County. At that time, while we weren't in a recession, while we were all living high on the hog and while the high life we enjoyed seemed never to end, people here expressed vitriolic rage that any roving group of homeless people would be given comfort in our suburban neighborhoods.

I bet some of those people are now facing the prospect themselves.

For some reason, being homeless myself is one of my long-term fears. I have been afraid of ending up with nowhere to go since I first left my parent's home in 1984. I don't know why, it's not always a rational fear, but I think about it. I used to think about who I'd call to ask for help. Maybe it's because I always felt it could happen to me that I felt compassion for people in that situation - I don't know. I had some of the same fears that opponents expressed. But in the end, I'm mostly afraid I'll be one of those people who needs help one day, and if I did, I would hope to find compassion.