When Hero Worship Goes Bad

Paul's ashes were int urned at the National Cemetery in Beaufort, SC yesterday. Paul was a veteran. He was also homeless. Unlike the Memorial service over which I presided last week, this was a much more solemn affair with very few in attendance, which is in keeping with most homeless burials. The Memorial Service had been a celebration of his life, even though he was homeless. A hundred people showed up to say thanks. Yesterday was more in keeping with the burial of homeless veterans. We'll give you a place to bury your ashes. Thanks.

Veterans have always been disproportionately represented among the homeless, consistently representing about 1/3 of the population. It is easy to figure out why. Most are kids when they join the military and a pre-determined structure molds them into solders. So long as they have that structure and accountability, they do fine. When many discharge out however, they flounder without the constant oversight. A downward spiral begins and they end up homeless.

With Vietnam, solders were ignored when they were discharged and a depression settled over many. Lack of structure coupled with depression led to homelessness.

Now we are obsessed with hero worship of solders which is fine as long as they are in the service and have the oversight to hold them accountable and keep it in check. When they are discharged out though they are suddenly no longer heroes. They are just like everybody else. Many struggle with the sudden loss of identity. The journey to homelessness begins.

There are many other reasons of course, but these are the ones that glare out to me after 30 years of working with the population. And yesterday I was struck again by what can happen when hero worship goes bad. A persons life is celebrated more for what he accomplished as a homeless person than what he did as a veteran. Something is very wrong with that.