A study revealed what a homeless person actually spends their money on.
In 2018, 50 individuals in Vancouver who had become homeless in the past two years were selected to receive a lump sum equivalent to around $5,498 USD to do with whatever they wanted. No questions asked.
In addition to the cash, they received a year of coaching and workshops that could help with developing life skills, goal setting, self-affirmation and brainstorming strategies to gain more stability.
The gesture was part of a peer-reviewed PNAS study, which also included the research team separately surveying 1,100 people, asking them to guess how the recipients would spend their money.
The general prediction was that these individuals, if experiencing homelessness, would spend 81 percent more on “temptation goods” like alcohol, drugs or tobacco than if they were not.
A follow-up survey proved that prediction wrong.
A year later, the recipients reported having spent the money on food, clothes and rent, and had been able to save up for more stable housing.
There is an infinite number of reasons why someone would need the money.
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Of course, the study is fairly small and does rely on self-reporting, in which facts can be skewed. Plus individuals had to have “nonsevere levels of substance use, alcohol use, and mental health symptoms” in order to qualify. But regardless, it shows the (unfounded) tendency society has to attribute some kind of character flaw—poor decision-making skills, addiction, laziness—as the core cause of someone dealing with homelessness, rather than simply a lack of money and resources.
The creators of the study argue that “traditional approaches,” which mainly focus on emergency services, healthcare and housing supports, only help prevent “more severe forms of homelessness.” They do not address the financial and psychological barriers incited through poverty. They added that other countries that have begun offering unconditional cash transfers to those with low income have seen improvement in their “physical health, psychological well-being, education and employment, and financial management.”
Around 582,000 Americans were experiencing homelessness in 2022.
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Rather than enabling vices, these cash transfers actually “reduce impulsivity” and help with responsible decision-making because they provide recipients the freedom to make their own decisions,” the study says. Finally, when given a large amount of money, rather than small monthly increments, people were “more likely to increase spending on durables, psychological well-being and female empowerment.”
All of these insights make for a compelling message. People struggling with homelessness have enough barriers to overcome. Let’s not let unnecessary mistrust be one of them. Both our policies and our own personal judgments need to adapt if we really want to address this huge issue. Compassion sometimes takes the form of cold, hard cash.
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An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
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Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.