In 2010 I jumped out of a plane. It was the scariest thing I have ever done.
Not only that but I was completely unprepared. I had been signed up by someone I knew and found myself with a group of people on a minibus without really being aware of what I had agreed to. We sat through a worryingly short safety briefing and, before I knew it, I was on a tiny airplane waiting to take off. Too late now, I thought.
The plane did not inspire confidence. It was small. Very small. I was entirely unconvinced that it would be able to resist a stiff breeze let alone carry all of us thousands of feet into the air.
Nonetheless, we took off and things got worse from there. First, I was strapped to the back of an unnervingly relaxed instructor and then, horror of horrors, they opened the door. The air rushed into the cabin and every instinct I have was telling me to hold on to something for dear life. Instead, I was unceremoniously shuffled to the exit, like a man-sized backpack.
From this terrifying vantage point, I could see the ground far below and feel the wind cutting against my face. There is no chance in this world that I would have been able to jump out of that plane but that was not a choice I had to make. Instead, the instructor jumped out and I was brought out with him.
The sudden acceleration as we fell was like nothing I have experienced before or since. My vision blurred and my senses numbed. I had no idea what was going on. Then the parachute opened, and we floated down, with me a shaking wreck still mercifully attached to the instructors back.
It was quite the ordeal but, as they say, it does not define me.
It was an experience that I went through, but I would not say I’m a “sky diver”. I would say that I am someone that did a sky dive. Once and never again.
As we commemorate World Homelessness Day, we remind ourselves that people are not homeless. There are not homeless people. Homelessness is not an identity, it’s an experience. Some people sleep on the streets, some on other people’s floors, some in unsuitable and highly temporary accommodation.
These people experience homelessness. It can be a scary and dangerous experience and one that can have lasting negative consequences. However, those same people can and do stop experiencing homelessness. They can find a place to live and make a home. It might be a brief experience that is never repeated. It would be quite misleading to say that the experience of homelessness is their identity.
We could aim to help homeless people, but that would be a clumsy and offensive way to consider the situation. Instead, we can aim higher and commit ourselves to building a world in which no one experiences homelessness.