For me, running is a major outlet for my emotions, my fears, my anger and my excitement. It’s a time when I turn on my favorite music and simply run until I can’t run anymore. Luckily, I get to run about four or five times a week.
Although I don’t have one consistent route, I stick mostly to my neighborhood, Piedmont Park or downtown Atlanta. I enjoy the serene and refreshing feelings I get whilst running but I can’t neglect several of the social issues I see, or worse, smell! One of the most challenging aspects of my run through downtown Atlanta is the stench of urine.
Homeless individuals utilize whatever they can to excrete waste – whether it’s the sidewalk, the local creek or the park. How can you blame them, really? The majority of businesses in the community don’t have ‘public restrooms’. I can’t be the only one who wonders where people without homes go to use the bathroom.
As a runner, I have experienced that frightening urge to use the bathroom in the middle of my four-mile route. But you know what I have that homeless individuals don’t? A light at the end of my tunnel – I can go home and go right to my bathroom.
However, after my internship at United Way’s Regional Commission on Homelessness, I was shocked to learn that this is a known problem with an effective yet expensive solution: automated public toilets. I had seen them before but I never thought twice about what they were. It was touching to learn that people understand that everyone, including homeless individuals, need access to toilets.
The automated toilets sanitize themselves and offer relief to anyone passing by. The Regional Commission on Homelessness helped place four of them throughout the city. I didn’t know that they were erected for homeless individuals because I’ve seen so many people using them – including fellow runners at Piedmont Park.
I appreciate learning about these things, especially since I’ve seen homelessness in a new light lately: they might be humans without homes, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have same basic needs as humans with homes.
This article was featured on Mother Nature Network. Please click here to view the article.
