Hello!
Tonight shared piece comes from my adventures as a homeless grocery store cashier I did back in the summer of 2017.
I kept a journal during those days; was suppose to be a day to day ramblings from that “low point” in my life; but to be truthful, I didn’t keep up and now find myself trying to remember things.
I drank beer and ate chicken I bought at my grocery store.
I sat and talked to folks who wandered into the park; their dogs excited at a chance for a meal of chicken bones and one stealing some of my beer.
“He’s a lush!” his owner, a man named Robert, said, chuckling.
Robert was a 72 year old, half blind man, using the magic of Mary Jane’s girls to keep the peace inside his head, a veteran of the Vietnam War, and peace activist later on.
We’d talk about everything; from politics to landing a sweet young lady who could smother us with a nice soft pillow.
Neither of us would even struggle we both discovered.
Other homeless travelers; looking for work, then moving on, would enter my camp but never stayed as it was just too “Rustic” (no fire pits! It got cold out by the marsh) and they would move on with a wave.
READ ‘THE HOMELESS GUIDE TO LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN’ BY CLICKING HERE!
I learned a few things out there; somethings I already knew but till you experience them, you won’t know the truth.
Most people out there, on the streets, do not want to be homeless.
A lot of them have jobs; the cashiers, cart runners, wait staff, etc.
They just don’t make enough money to be able to afford a place to live.
Yes, there are resources for the homeless but there are just too many of the homeless at one time to be helped quickly.
It’s a problem faced everywhere.
I ended up on a “Waiting List” for housing assistance.
A two year (at least) long waiting list.
This is suppose to be the land of milk and honey but there’s not enough milk nor honey.
Everyone is just one stumble from finding themselves in that same situation; without a home.
I was lucky enough to have friends who provided me a place to stay, to shower, etc.
And only found myself for a little over a month living under the branches of a huge tree in a park.
I was also lucky enough to have a job that paid enough for me to eat; to spend a few days in a cheap motel; where I’d shower, snuggle on the bed, watch cable TV and listen to the hookers next door moan out the song “Give it to me baby!” in D-flat.
(Also thanks to friends who sent me money also!!! Cheap beer is your sleep aide and friend out there on the street sadly!)
Today I am a lucky man; moving into my own place with my lady love, a new adventure, but I will always keep those life lessons learned that summer; never to take for granted those things I have; to cherish my friendship and to aid my fellow man when it comes time.
Yes, my dear readers, there are the career homeless; those who stay out there; for whatever reason but for the most part, the people out there are just like you; they just stumbled and fell; they had the jobs, the houses.
In a lot of places; the homeless are treated as nothing more than animals; chased away, caged, stomped on, bused away to become other peoples’ problems.
The homeless shelters closed; for different reasons.
Attempts to start another one; up to code, are foiled by NOT IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD mentality.
Sadly, the homeless are already in the neighborhoods.
The screams of “Get a job” coming from the mouths of haters; hot coffee thrown into peoples’ faces as they beg or say nothing.
“Trash!” some folks yell, the same folks who call themselves “Good Christians”
The “Trash” at some point in their life before this new chapter were “Productive Citizens” with good jobs, beautiful homes, now reduced to a beaten dog, trying to find their way out of the mire of this homeless life.
Something needs to be done; no one in this country should be homeless or go hungry.
No child should go to bed with an empty stomach.
Everyone should have a bed and a pillow to lay their head; a basic human need you soon discover being a homeless person.
There is no excuse…..
