Abandoned cars, dogs and people.

I go each Wed to the local "soup line" to hand out socks and whatever else I can afford to give. Sometimes it is a zip lock bag of goodies and sometimes it is just batteries. It takes me a couple days to digest what I have seen, heard, and smelled during this adventure...

I met Jim this trip. He proudly told me of the "tent city" he founded in the hills outside our town. He told of the police raids that allow them to grab what they can and then how the police slice the tents and cart them off. He got wind of a coming police raid and how his "camp" was in scurry mode after eating their one meal a day at the Salvation Army. There are breakfasts and dinners at a different location, but one meal today will have to do as they need to move before the 'raid'.

It was the first of the month and Jim spit sour liquor breath my direction as he lisps though missing teeth. He was hard to understand and to hear. His eyes are glassy. He explains that 'he is a man' and starts crying. I give him a hug. After a time he tells me about the impending raid and how 'normal people' (his words) do not understand that the homeless do NOT want to be homeless...they have pain that is covered by the booze and drugs that leads to illegal activity that they then hide from the law. The thinking is so confused that being on the run sounds better than a bed and meals in jail.

He goes on to ask me. "What happens to abandoned cars?" They are impounded I respond. "What happens to abandoned dogs?" he asks patiently... Well, I guess they are picked up and housed by the human society until they find a new home. Tears fill his eyes again. "What happens to homeless people?" I am silent. He looks down at this worn boots for a long time. I wait for his answer and pray that I can find the words to comfort this man. He looks up slowly, right into my eyes...and says "They yell at us, wake us up when we try to sleep in a dry doorway, close shelters for lack of funding, arrest us, give us just enough money for booze or drugs but not enough for housing." I am still silent. "They will not rent to us, they will not give us work, the treatment centers are full, they run us off if we pan handle..." He starts crying again. "The worst thing is that they ignore us...they have more respect for abandoned cars and dogs...." He walked away.