海角大神

The formerly homeless 鈥済olden-voiced鈥� Ted Williams is strolling into his second act 鈥� professed to be clean and sober for more than two years and now the object of massive media attention, recipient of job and home offers, and participant in the requisite teary reunion with his mother.

A recession-weary nation clearly loves this Cinderella story. His has received millions of views and counting.

But is this a good thing? Does a singular case of one down-and-outer-made-good really help when funding for homeless centers nationwide is drying up and record numbers of formerly middle-class Americans are on the streets?

鈥淎bsolutely,鈥� says Deborah Billar, vice president of development for the Weingart Center, a Los Angeles Skid Row organization that serves up to 600 homeless people. 鈥淎nything that contributes to the dialogue around this urgent problem is a good thing,鈥� she says.

Ms. Billar points to the Steve Lopez-Nathaniel Ayers story a few years ago, depicted in the 2009 film, 鈥淭he Soloist,鈥� about a real-life classical musician who has become homeless. Actor Jamie Foxx, who portrayed the cellist Mr. Ayers, became involved with the issue of homelessness through that film, she says, and recently recorded a public service announcement for them.

鈥淟os Angeles has the dubious distinction of being the nation鈥檚 homelessness capital,鈥� she notes, with a homeless population of 48,000 across the LA County.

The recession has dried up all sorts of public and private funding, she says. Normally, 鈥渉omelessness is not sexy,鈥� she says, 鈥渟o anything that puts this issue back into people鈥檚 conversation we welcome.鈥�

The story has clearly hit a nerve. For good reason, says Robert Wolverton, a classics authority and professor of foreign languages at Mississippi State University.

There are familiar elements of classical narrative power, he says. The individual that society has thrown away but who goes on to triumph later in life appears in everything from myths to the Bible, he says, pointing to both the Moses and Romulus and Remus tales. In both stories, infants are placed in baskets, pushed out onto rivers and left to fend for themselves. 鈥淥f course, Moses goes on to lead a people out of captivity and Romulus and Remus found Rome.鈥�

While few of the nation鈥檚 homeless get the chance or exposure Mr. Williams has garnered, 鈥渨e care about guys like Ted Williams and the soloist because deep down inside, many of us long to have our own inner greatness discovered by the world,鈥� says Los Angeles author and speaker BJ Gallagher via email.

Whether it鈥檚 a musical talent, a writing skill, an artistic streak, a blockbuster idea, acting talent, or some other significant attribute, we think we could benefit the world if only others would find out about it, says Ms. Gallagher, the author of 鈥淚t's Never Too Late to Be What You Might Have Been.鈥�

Most of us feel special in some respect and we long for others to recognize and acknowledge our unique gift, she adds. And when someone like Ted Williams is discovered, 鈥渙ur own hope to be discovered is rekindled. In short, we all feel like Cinderella ... we're just waiting for Fate to open a window of opportunity.鈥�

While the Ted Williams tale is super-high-profile, less dramatic journeys back from the edge are going on all the time, says 48-year old Shalonda Sims, who has been homeless for two years after overwhelming medical bills.

Ms. Sims now lives in the Union rescue mission in downtown LA but says she sees small triumphs 鈥渁ll the time.鈥� They just don鈥檛 get the kind of attention Williams has received, she says.