Encouragement

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Question: In this day where labeling or tagging someone is seen as a bad thing, can someone tell what is the proper name for a person that is destitute? Is it - Vagrant? Hobo? Bum? Tramp? Neither; the proper name of a person that is destitute is whatever the person's name is. In other words, a person that is impoverished is still a person that has a name and just be in a situation that may have limited cash flow or travels to find work. A name on the other hand, could be anything from the given name the person was christen at the time of their birth or to a nickname they picked up along life's way - Hobo Joe or Railroad Pete or Long Legged Larry, Train jumpin' Jimmy - no, I have never jumped a train in my life and after working with the railroad, I can understand why it's not encouraged. Nevertheless, I think of Shakespeare's famous line from "Romeo and Juliet" - "a rose by any other name..."

Almost forty years ago, I was part of a specialize group at my church, that consisted of the older kids of the youth group. The group did some leadership training coupled with heavy bible study. Simply put, we were a discipleship group. This particular Sunday - I don't remember how the subject came up - but I said something about the term "hobo" and David Hill, our seminary intern at the time and our youth pastor and our leader of the discipleship group wanted to know why I used that term for the person.

Now, I had heard that term all my life up until that point and I never thought for a second that it was used as a negative connotation or as a "put down" as we used to say many moons ago. I never meant it in a way of meanness or as a classification of a person. A hobo was someone that rode the rails freestyle. I've since learned that "hobos" came from a time in the 1870's where right after the Civil War, boys or young men, who were soldiers for either side, needed to find work. Many of them had farm experience, since they were raised on a farm prior to the war. They got farm implements and they would work farms. When they were done with harvesting or whatever they were hire to do, they hop the rails to the next town or farm wherever they could get another job at and work there till the job was finished. And since they carry their own farming implements with them, a hoe being one of them, they became "Hoe-boys" and as most terms become shorten over a period of time, they eventually became know as, "hobos" They weren't destitute, in fact, they were the modern equivalent to day laborers. They had money, maybe not lots of it, but they could buy food and a place to sleep for the night.

Is this a true definition? I don't know. I've searched for the origin of the word from time to time (yes, in a way, that Sunday still haunts me on occasions.) What I've found out is not that I was necessarily wrong, but I also understand what David was trying to get me to think of when I use terms such as hobo and other terms that classify people. Back to the definition. The best answer I could find was Wikipedia's definition that comes from the president of the National Convention of Hobos. Yes, it would appear that hobos are a group of individuals that ride the rails for the enjoyment of riding the rails and they have a convention every year in Britt, Iowa. Like a motorcycle club, that rides their bikes for the enjoyment and freedom that the bike brings them, these hobos ride the rails for the same reasons - for enjoyment and freedom. And they have been since 1900.

A hobo is not a tramp or a bum and to call a hobo a tramp or a bum is highly insulting. As mentioned before, a hobo does do work, or has a legitimate job and rides the rails on the weekend. A tramp, from the German word, "trampen" to walk with heavy steps-someone who tramples over things or the word bum, also from German origins - "bummeln" to stroll or wander, indicating that a person who is a bum doesn't have plans or purpose and meanders through life - someone who bumbles around. Both words do imply a criminal intent. Personally, I much rather be called a hobo than a tramp or a bum.

I realize that we live in a day and age where we need to put people in their "slots" to help us understand who they are. I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing or a bad thing people because it's part of our nature to identify people; and someone that isn't clued in on what's going on around them, may become the victim of a crime or the target of something worse. But if it's a bad thing to identify people, then why at social gatherings, when we play ice breaker games, these games are designed by getting to know some of your like and dislikes or characteristics of the person. But I digress. Forty years ago, it was the same thing, you want to recognize the person as a person, and not so much as to who they were or what they did. I realize now that there's so much more to a person than the color of their skin or sexual orientation or color of their hair or that they ride rails in search for a job.

David finally asked me if Jesus were to see the person I was referring to, would he call them by their name or would he call them by the term hobo? I don't remember what I said, it was probably along the line of "he'll call the person by name."

"Then why are you insisting on calling them something different?" I remember thinking, "cause that's what they are?" heck, I was 17 years old, what do you expect! Only to find out a few years ago that there's a national convention of hobos! They call themselves hobos! The brain locks up and confusion is written all over the face. They didn't teach this in school. Or if they did, I might have been out sick - I was a sickly kid - so what is the proper etiquette then if someone refers to themself in a derogatory fashion? Do we go along with it or ignore their name and call them something else?

Which brings about something else. There's a racial epithet that is such an ugly word that I rarely use it at all. It starts with the letter "N" and that's all I will say. In fact, but I will take the Lord's name in vain (and then seek forgiveness) before I will use this word - and I don't make it a habit of taking the Lord's name in vain either, not because it's an ugly phrase, and it is, but in the long run, I made need the use of something I asked the Lord to punish. Nevertheless, the word is still used in our lexicon today by all races, including African Americans. But white people can't use that word without having the term racists thrown at them. In an article I read recently, even though the word is still use among African American, for a white person to use it, still rings with a connotation of dehumanizing the person.

When I was a young man, my grandmother, Na, who was raised in the south, and lived in the rear house of the duplex that my family lived in, was frighten by a black man standing in his bedroom of his apartment house, that was in back of our house, and he was looking down at Na. Na went on and on how the black man just kept looking at her. And I asked her, "why can't you just say he was a man that was looking at you?" I forgot what she responded with but I told a friend about a while later and he told that for some black men, there's a pride connected to his blackness. So from that time on, I thought I would say black because I was trying to show respect. Fast forward to a few years ago. I make no bones about my dislike for President Obama and he signed something into law this particular day and I posted my opinion of him on Facebook. And I used this phrase - "this black man from Chicago" No sooner had I posted it, I was called on the carpet because I used the term black to describe the president

The person went on to say that I belittle the man and that I should have not brought color into the matter. But because I did, I used a racial tone to discredit the president as a man. I was confused, bewildered, and just pain ol' mad! If I use a derogatory word, I'm seen as a racist. If I used the term black, I'm seen as a racist. If I use the sexual gender, male, I'm not showing respect to the pride of the man, thus making myself a racist. If I use the term "hobo", I'm an uncaring and unloving person. because of some things that has happened in my life, I have all the reasons to become a racist and they are all valid. I was held up three times in my life, all by African Americans, and last time I was shot. I have plenty to be angry about and plenty to cast aspersions at. But I'm smart to know that those were just three individuals that thought they could take something from me. I know who I am and I know what I'm not - one things for sure, I'm not a racist. I'm however, a human being with flaws.

Going back to what my youth pastor, David Hill asked that Sunday a long time ago, "What would Jesus call him?" Jesus would see the person, not the race or sex or lifestyle, I know that now. He would see the person and offer them his love. Love that changes lives that are fit to live in his kingdom. He wants you to live in his Kingdom... He wants you. He would see a racist heart and change it to one that sees grace and mercy. He would see a person that is poor and give the riches of his love to them. He would see someone that is suffering and through his love, heal their wounds.

This love that changes lives, we saw members of the AME Church in Charleston, when the members of the families of those nine that were murdered in South Carolina, stood before the murderer and forgave him we saw the love of God being poured out on this young troubled man. It's a shame that some criticize those families for doing such a thing, but they will never understand the love of God because they only see color and revenge, not the individual that made a terrible decision based on hate and if love can't cancel out hate, then nothing can and hate wins.

The irony in all of this, is that one of the songs we would sing in youth group, was Roger Miller's "King of the Road"; a song about someone that rides the rails and "knows every lock that ain't locked when no one's around" and I was questioned on saying the word, "hobo"! Now, I'm not saying that Jesus would hop a freight or pick a lock or even smoke old stogies that he found, chances are, he wouldn't do any of those things. What he would know is all of the children names that he encountered, as well as the adults. But would he call them by name or use a term of endearment? Depends on the person, I suppose. Still, we see names change in the Bible from time to time. Gideon was called "a mighty man of valor", when he was down in the wine presses beating the chaff from the wheat - a man of valor usually doesn't hide from his enemies - Jesus, on the proclamation of he was God, changed Simon's name to Peter. Jacob was renamed by God to be called Israel. When Jesus calls you a name of endearment, it's because he's sees something in you that no one else does and it's for your own edification, for your betterment. And that's where I need to be looking at, the edification of the person, not a compartment for them.

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