Anyone who has ever been poor surly knows how stressful it is. Worrying constantly how the bills will be paid, how necessary things like food, shelter, and medical care will be provided for themselves and their spouses and children. Many people have substandard housing and some have none at all. No roof, and no door to lock against danger.

Often poor people go without healthcare. In addition to that, they pick up bad habits like alcoholism and or drugs in order to numb the misery of poverty. Some pick up smoking in order to calm their nerves from the stress and worry.

Times are harder here in the U.S. than they have been in a long time as a result of the stagnant economy. While the wealthy would seem to be able to make money even when things are bad, poor people are not so fortunate.

There are more homeless people in the U.S. today than there was 25 years ago. I never saw a homeless person in my life until I was in my 20s. Now they are everywhere.

In fact, thanks to the market crash of 2008 and employers refusing to even consider people who are unemployed regardless of how long they’ve been unemployed (half a second or a year or more is the same to these employers), many middleclass people are now barely making ends meet, and some, far too many in this author’s estimation, have become homeless.

Homeless can mean living with relatives or friends, living in a motel from day to day or week to week, living in a tent, living under a bridge, spending nights in a homeless shelter, or any number of other creative means to attempt to find shelter.

In the last few months I have read about homeless people who were doused with gasoline and set on fire as they slept or sat quietly on city benches. Thankfully this is not a common occurrence, but it does emphasize how homeless people have little if any control over what may happen to them and they are constantly subject to random violence.

Homeless people experience violence far more often than people who do have homes with roofs and locks on doors and windows -- homes that do include showers, toilets, and means of communication. People with homes usually have transportation as well in the way of a vehicle. Some homeless people may have access to public transportation, but not all of them do either because it does not exist or because it costs too much for a person who has little or no money.

There are at least 2000 homeless children in the school district where I work. Mine is just one school district out of 14 thousand across this country (U.S. 2010 Census). Some of the homeless children, like nomads, move from one location to another everyday, never staying long anywhere.

People with no stability in their lives, or constant stress to keep the meager things they have, are just naturally more susceptible to a variety of illnesses and maladies. They do not get check-ups or screenings. They have little if any healthcare at all, they may lack the ability to keep themselves clean, and they often have little contact with other people who might help. They often have no close relationships with anyone. Very often when tough times arrive family and fair weather friends disappear.

So many of the things that most people take for granted are not available to poor and/or homeless people. It should not be surprising that all these things affect mortality.

Being poor is in itself a punishment, yet so many people do not seem to realize that and so they pile on. Some people seem to want to make damned certain any poor person regrets ever being poor. Their purpose seems to be to make poor people sorry they were ever born.

Newsflash: Many poor people already rue the day they were born into this world. So if you cannot help, at least do not make matters worse for these people who are already suffering. If you have never been truly poor, then you do not know how miserable poverty can be.