Hobo VS Homeless

Whenever people ask me what I want to be when I grow up from the time I was little I had always said a hobo. This response is always met with laughs or disapproval. I don't think most people my dreams of becoming a hobo seriously. My mother after many years of discussion about this told me that she would allow me to become a hobo only after I graduate college, she seems to feel it will be more obvious then that it my choice to do so. Most people think that hobos and the homeless are the same, this is not true. They do share some similarities but for the most part are completely different from each other. When most people picture hobo they either think of some man in rags begging for change on the corner or those men in rags that train jump and carry "those stick things with the bags at the end". The first is a homeless person and the second is a hobo from the early 1900's. The term hobo comes from a combination of the words "homeward bound" which was said on the railroads often. They first started to appear around the 1860's when discharged veterans were simply looking for a way home. The population of hobos increased during the great depression. The population of hobos are much smaller in present time but they have also evolved to fit with these changing times. Hobos have their own sort of language they developed as a sort of short hand when talking to each other. They also have their own series of symbols they leave around places to help other hobos stay safe. They are very caring people who try to always look out for their own people. The main difference between hobos and the homeless is choice and pride. Unlike the homeless hobos chose their lifestyle. They are people who sought out the most intense sort of freedom and chose to longer live by anyone else's rules. The homeless are people who have suffered and lost all they have worked for. Hobos actually continue to work, much like budhists, they give up all their possessions and by doing this work place to place to make just what they need to get by. Hobos would never beg for anything because they are happy where they are, they chose to be there. I think hobos are amazing and fascinating people who one day I hope to join. I have already learned a few of the hobo signs, such as hobos are going to take over the world. Hobos are not the same as they used to be, no longer are the days of hopping trains now there are whole islands of hobos in places like Hawaii. It would give me a unique perspective on life for years to come even after I am done with my hobo life. I look forward to one day sitting down and telling my grandchildren that I had once been so lucky to experience being a hobo.