in my time at my current job i’ve met my share of interesting people. i’ve heard some pretty remarkable stories, and we’ve seen lives change for the better and for the worse. if there was one message i wish i could get across to all people from my learning here it would be that people who are homeless aren’t “less than”, they’re pretty resourceful, they can deal with a lot. while a few are where they are due to drug and alcohol abuse it’s not everyone. and a good majority of homeless women are there b/c of some sort of domestic violence or abuse.
that would be one reason why seeing a homeless woman wrecks me more than men.
but the man i’ve met who has left an indelible impression i met last july. while i was at my sister-in-law’s house on the fourth of july my poor little car was the victim of a hit-and-run, most likely from some jackass who had had too much to drink by 3pm. (you celebrate your independence, mister. see you in rehab.) a couple of weeks later i was getting out of my car at work when an older african-american man approached me, having noticed my dinged up rear left fender.
he proceeded to tell me how i could “fix” my car myself, mentioning words like “epoxy” and other rubbish that i didn’t understand. i half wanted to tell him, “um, if you half knew me you’d know that you’re wasting your breath right about now”. but i listened, b/c i’m not rude like that. afterwards he asked if i had any money so he could catch a bus to an appointment in cincinnati. we’ve been told not to give money out – something about it going around the homeless/low-income community like wildfire that you can go to “this place” and “that lady” will give you money.
i looked in my car and had literally one nickel in my change thing. i know better than to whip my wallet out, and flash my 7 $1 bills. ha i gave him the nickel, and then he kept on talking.
this man was definitely suffering from PTSD as a vietnam vet. as many of them do he was just chattering on and on about his war experience – jumping out of planes, seeing friends literally blown into pieces and seeing their arms lying feet away from their bodies, losing his best friends in the field, them not understanding why they were over there and STILL not understanding it, etc. i just stood there, stunned, listening to the atrocities that this man experienced, and being even more flabbergasted that he had done all of this for his country, but that yet…
he was homeless.
as i started to ask around more, i learned that this isn’t all that unusual. there are a lot of homeless vets in america. a lot of vets suffer from PTSD or some other mental issues deriving from their time spent in the armed services, and so many of them aren’t able to keep jobs b/c of these issues. some of them turn to drugs to deal with the anxiety and the mental images they can’t forget.
and we, as a country, allow them to be homeless.
i’m just going to state my opinion on a couple of things, and just put it out there:
1. i don’t like the idea of war, and when the affects of a pointless war are standing in front of me talking to me, i like it even less.
2. by golly if as a political system we’re going to enter into war and ask people to fight for our freedom, shouldn’t it also be a given that we make sure they’re taken care of for the rest of their lives? at least have a roof over their head, food in their bellies, and a little to live on?
i know a lot of people complain about paying taxes. but i drive on paved roads and live between a cop and a firefighter, and i have freedom today b/c people like this man helped protect that. i think it’s a travesty that this is even an issue.
