extreme homeless challenge 2008!

ive been thinking lately about how many of us do things to help the homeless, yet could never understand anything about what they go through. many of of us will volunteer at a homeless shelter, which (dont get me wrong) is a good thing, and then go home to our air conditioning and tv and warm bed and cupboard full of food. how much can we take from this experience? at the hookah bar the other day, we were talking about whether or not we think good acts are actually good if the person is acting out of selfishness. my friend jeff, wondered aloud if it is a good act at all if only one party benefits. in other words if i perform a good deed and dont walk away changed, its almost useless.

here is what im getting at: i want to help the homeless, but i want to understand what they go through first. so i am proposing a sort of challenge to myself and my friends. for 10 days we will live like the homeless do; we will not shower, brush our teeth or style our hair. we will spend $5 or less per day. we will sleep outside on the ground. we will not watch tv. we will walk or take the bus as much as possible.

we will record our thoughts and share our experiences and what weve learned. then we will come up with a way to help the homeless.

peace.