When I was a little girl, each time I passed a homeless person, I found myself wondering how they ended up on the streets. Sometimes I’d roll down my window and give them a few dollars or a spare granola bar, but that was it. I hated that a living and breathing life had to sleep on concrete under a bridge. But what more could I do?

 

Then something unexpected happened, a gut-wrenching tragedy that would re-shape my entire life and propel me deeper into my concern for people living on the street. 

 

My mother had a mental breakdown. 

 

I didn’t know a lot about mental health at the time, but what I did notice was the mannerisms of specific homeless individuals reminded me of the same idiosyncrasies my mother occasionally exhibited. That realization haunted me: If she were like them and they were on the street, then one day could we be, too? 

 

I pursued I Am Human Too because I was desperate to know why my mother’s behaviors aligned with people talking to themselves along city sidewalks. Additionally, I wanted this shunned group of people—those without homes—to finally be heard, seen, and understood. While I hoped to help people living on the street by bringing their stories to surface, in the end, it was they who changed me, expelling 14 lessons of wisdom that changed my life and the way I lived forever.