You never know what a day has in store or which are the things that are going to challenge you the most.
My greatest challenge on Saturday morning wasn’t presenting a radio show after having spent a night on the street for Focus Ireland but rather it was containing my rage with a listener who accused me of engaging in a stunt.
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On Friday night I took part in Focus Ireland’s Shine a Light Campaign which saw over 80 Irish business men and women spend a night outdoors to help to, as the name implies, 'shine a light' on the issue of homelessness.
There were events in Cork and Dublin and I was bedding down in the grounds of Christchurch. The added dimension for me was that I had to present Down to Business later that morning.
No rest for the wicked after @FocusIreland #ShineALight, getting papers ready for #BobbyMeansBiz at 10 @NewstalkFM pic.twitter.com/yNhHTZMlbP
— Bobby Kerr (@bobbykerr) October 17, 2015
I had no delusions about what my night under the stars might achieve. We weren't going to crack the issue of homelessness. But what’s the alternative? Do nothing? And as it happens we didn't do nothing; I was part of a night that helped raise over €350,000.
But it was a night of some revelations for me personally that certainly changed how I think of homelessness.
As I woke up after about two hours of disturbed sleep I had come to realise certain things that might seem obvious to you but weren’t to me.
Firstly it's incredibly difficult to sleep outside in a city; the noise never stops. From bin trucks to late-night/early morning revelers, Dublin City is an assault on the ears all night long.
So that's it for @FocusIreland #ShineALight for 2015, big thanks for all the support, it's been a long night (1/2) pic.twitter.com/SoM4hJNL0Q
— Bobby Kerr (@bobbykerr) October 17, 2015
But what really got to me was a profound sense of loneliness. Even though I was surrounded by people who were all doing the same, I was struck by just how alone you feel when you're sleeping rough.
There's a fundamental disconnect of your core humanity when you're homeless. Not to have a roof over your head is just plain wrong and you feel disconnected from normality and the world when you're lying on the ground on the in the middle of a city.
As I woke I had a dark and sad feeling that I couldn't shake all day and this was only after one night. My producer John Fardy, who was lying about five feet away from me, later tweeted that he was "going home to hug wife and kids #gratitude". I know how he felt.
Spend all night outdoors for #shine alight with @bobbykerr and then we did Down to Business live. Going home to hug wife and kids #gratitude
— John Fardy (@john_fardy) October 17, 2015
So it was with a mix of gratitude and a little melancholia that I presented the show on Saturday. But what I was feeling coalesced into anger when a listener texted in to say that my night on the street was "a cheap self aggrandising stunt by a rich person employed by Denis O'Brien".
Although at the time I flew a little off the handle as a result of being tired and cranky, perhaps now that I've had time to reflect I realise why I got so angry.
The listener was engaged in something called an argument ad hominem, where basically you attack the character of the person making the argument and not the premise of the argument.
Yes I'm a reasonably wealthy man, and yes, I'm employed by Denis O'Brien but that has absolutely nothing to do with me asking people to consider the plight of homelessness. It’s like I'm pointing at the moon but someone is saying my finger is dirty.
And it wasn't just me feeling the anger. Also sleeping out was my former fellow Dragon Norah Casey who told me that she was "cross".
She felt government wasn't listening to the problem of homelessness and that people had to make some noise. She suggested that she and I would be able to eradicate homelessness if we were given the budget. Maybe, maybe not, but at least we were doing something to even get a conversation going about solutions.
I probably don’t have any new solution to the problem since my night out on the streets. What I do have is a strong sense that everybody should try and be homeless at least one night a year. Call it a stunt if you want, but I haven't been able to sleep properly since.
