Life on Sand Island

There is no question that the Sand Island homeless shelter is not a resort or spa. It is a transitional shelter for chronic homeless people. Yet, it is oddly comfortable. Aside from the amenities detailed in the previous footnote, there are few other perks. Two meals are served daily, a small "Continental Breakfast" in the morning and dinner in the early evening (three full meals are available at the Iwilei homeless shelter as an option). There is even a barbeque area with gas grills. Small cooking appliances are available in the community tent as well.

Community Tent at Night

In addition, the "guests" are not required to leave the facility during work hours on weekdays. Yet, there is no compelling reason to stay there during the day.

Unfortunately, there are no laundry facilities available. So, dirty laundry must be transported to an off-site laundromat. The cost of performing laundry chores at laundromats in the area is prohibitive. Thus, laundry chores will be lengthened to two weeks.

One aspect of the stay at the Sand Island homeless shelter has been the need to relearn humility. In all honesty, that goal is slowly being attained. In empire, there is no lower class of people than the homeless. Impoverishment, high reliance on entitlement programs, and the need for social services separates the homeless strata from the rest of "mainstream society."

The homeless strata is free of the usual trivial and malignant concerns of the rest of "society," although it is not free of its own kind of problems. A safe assumption, though, is that the majority of the homeless desire to move "up" to the next caste, although unbeknownst to them is the sickening trap that awaits them.

The stay at the Sand Island homeless shelter has invoked some real "soul-searching." The issue of mortality remains at the forefront. The fear of "permanent” housing, especially senior citizen housing, is strongly correlated to the concept of the "home" really being a mausoleum in disguise.