Homeless vet gets a makeover and a second chance

[kpete]

Homeless vet gets a makeover and a second chance (wonderful time-lapse)
11/7/2013 9:02pm by John Aravosis 16 Comments

This is so “Paris is Burning.” A homeless veteran has struggled for decades with poverty and alcoholism. A ministry, Degage Ministries, helps him get housing, attend Alcoholics Anonymous, and they give him a makeover, which I was a bit ambivalent about at first.

Don’t get me wrong, the makeover is amazing. But it bothered me a bit, the notion that his problem was simply that he needed to be “cleaned up.” Having said that, we do judge people by their looks, whether we admit it or not, and people’s clothing and grooming, the way they carry themselves, affects how others treat them. It shouldn’t. But it does.

And worse yet, we judge ourselves by our own looks, and through the eyes of others. So I could imagine that finding someone who can show you that the way you look isn’t you, that it’s only “drag,” a costume of sorts, can be quite powerful for some people. And as part of a larger package of aid – actually helping this man get back on his feet – and after looking at the very end of the video, the last few frames where the vet hugs the guy who put the suit on him, it changed my mind. I like it now.

Here’s a quick animated gif I did of the transformation




More plus full video:
http://americablog.com/2013/11/homeless-vet-makeover-time-lapse-video.html

[Historic NY]

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