Berkley Center

Since arriving in Dublin in January, I have been trying my best to avoid constant comparisons between Ireland and the United States, but admittedly, I haven’t been doing that well. When I am in my politics courses, I find it difficult to examine the structure of Ireland’s government without doing so in contrast to the US system, or when I am in my linguistics courses, I find myself making note of the differences in Irish English and various American English dialects. When I walk around Dublin, I look for differences between myself and other Irish people concerning clothing style, walking pace, manners, courtesy, and other day to day activities. These casual cultural differences are what make studying abroad an enjoyable, and sometimes confusing, learning experience.

However, in a more broad sense, Washington, DC and Dublin are incredibly similar; they suffer from what I believe to be “Major City Syndrome,” wherein, as the title describes, most major cities in industrialized or “developed” nations begin to look the same, no matter the country or continent. Of course, this is not applicable to every capital or major city, but in my experience in the United States and abroad, it is suitable in many circumstances. In the States, where there are Starbucks on every corner, Dublin has Costa or O’Brien’s. If you need clothes or food for a good price, instead of Wal-Mart or Target, you make your way to Dunnes Stores or Tesco, possibly a Marks & Spencer’s. In my experience, the names of the stores may change, but the aesthetic is still generally the same. The roads are mostly populated by buses and taxis, rather than personal vehicles, peppered with pedestrians and cyclists hurriedly trying to reach their destination in one piece, and the sidewalks are lined with those who cannot afford a home, asking strangers for spare change.

It saddens me that out of the many similarities I find between Dublin and Washington, DC, homelessness is the most prevalent. In each city, passersby, myself unfortunately included, discreetly avoid eye contact with the growing number of homeless men, women, and children that occupy the city, occasionally lending a few coins here and there. From my own personal thoughts to comments made by my classmates in Dublin and DC, those of us who are lucky to live in homes hold many preconceived notions about those we see living on the streets. I have heard from women in both cities, and I have often felt this way myself, that they feel a sense of fear when men approach them for change or if they must reach in their purse to find some money to spare, that there is a risk their whole purse or wallet may be stolen. Some people feel as if panhandlers are hustlers, scamming them out of a few dollars that they may not actually need. Overall, I’ve found that most beliefs held about the homeless are negative, and I believe this cynicism harms homeless citizens in finding the help they sorely need. At University College Dublin, I am taking a course entitled "Inequality in Irish Society," where one of the major topics of discussion is how political, social, affective, and economic disadvantages intersect with regards to different communities in Ireland. Drug addiction, mental illness, lack of love and consistent care, increased unemployment, and limited healthcare are several interconnected factors which disadvantage the homeless population of Ireland.

When I think of the homeless people of Dublin and DC, I think of a statement often repeated at Georgetown, the hope that Hoyas will work to become “men and women for others.” In Dublin, the successes of the Celtic Tiger years and the hardships of 2008 have come together to create a “ghost estate” wherein a surplus of housing complexes that were built to support the demand of the people are now left vacant and uninhabited due to the financial crisis limiting the ability to rent or buy a home. Several statistics claim that there are a few thousand empty housing developments in Dublin, and that makes me believe those of us who have benefited from an education, healthcare, and the love of family and friends are not effectively utilizing our intellectual, social, and monetary resources to solve the puzzle of how a major city has thousands of empty homes and hundreds of homeless people. I am not sure how we go about fixing the issue of homelessness, but I think we will need more than spare change and cynicism to truly become men and women for others.