Today we had two people come and tell us about their experiences being homeless. One of them had been homeless on and off for 10 years and was currently homeless now. He was in his 3rd year in college getting his degree in business managment. He also had just applied for grad school. Another guy had been homeless while he was dealing with mental illness, but was now off the streets. After they talked we brought supplies out to two parks to give out to homeless people. We had ponchos, socks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deoderant, and socks that we handed out to people and then stopped to talk to them. Nicole and I only ended up talking to one person and we were both sad when the time was up. He had become homeless almost nine years ago when his son was murdered. He was a great guy, full of life with high spirits. He loved himself and his life than I do love mine sometimes, which really made me think. He was so happy to talk to us and even sang us two Christian songs. I tried to give him a few dollars for being so kind to us and he wouldnt take it. I will remember my interaction with Walter for the rest of my life. He really put a face to a problem that is considered a numbers problem or just statistics. He was nicer to me than most housed strangers, and he has a lot of reasons to be critical about the world. I can't imagine people beating him up, cops trying to frame him to arrest him, people spitting in his face, dumping bags of feces or other bodily fluids on him, dumping hot coffee on him, calling him the "N" word, as well as the many other things I can only imagine that he faces everyday. If people took time to smile and say hi to one another, and treat one another like humans, the world would be a much better place. :)
Dani
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