The Homeless: An Invisible Minority

During my first ever trip to Starbucks with my friends, I bought a coffee worth more than five dollars. That is more than some homeless people spend in a week. I spent it all on a drink that I didn't even finish. "There is increasing inequality of incomes and a widening gap between the rich and the poor" (Nunez 367). In our economy some people can afford to buy a five-dollar cup of coffee every day while others would spend that amount of money on five separate meals. To redeem ourselves for our frivolous behaviour that day at Starbucks, or perhaps due to it, my friends and I bought some treats from their snack bar to give away to the homeless. The people we gave them to were very grateful; I felt guilty, standing there drinking my venti frappacino. This was my first time giving to someone on the street, and my first time looking a homeless person in the eye. Usually I look away so they won't ask me for money and I won't have to deny them. "The stereotypical view of homeless people portrays them as passive, lazy, disaffiliated, and disempowered"(Boydell et al. 26). …