More Ramblings

Ramblings: 7-26-13

Lately I’ve been spending time along Lancaster Ave near the Presbyterian Night Shelter, Union Gospel Mission and the Day Resource Center. I’ve had some business to take care of in the area and while I was there I did some serious observing of who is around and what sorts of things are happening…

It’s depressing really, for I’ve while I’ve noticed some new faces there are plenty of old faces out there as well. When I say old faces I mean people I recognize who have been around for several years. Some who have been around almost as long as I’ve been homeless. The depressing part is that, as I once was, most of the people I’ve seen often over the years and to a smaller extent the newer people seem to be stuck in a rut. All they do and all they know how to do is survive on a daily basis with no plan for their future except to be homeless, maintain their chosen lifestyle and do whatever they do on a daily basis.

A few find work occasionally but then their earnings pretty much get spent on maintaining that lifestyle. Severally more receive an income from Social Security, SSI or disability pensions and pretty much do the same things every month. In other words maintain the homeless lifestyle.

I too, once, led this lifestyle. Mostly it meant drugs, alcohol and personal pleasure with little or no concern about where or how I lived. As long as I had a place to sleep, in my case my tent, I was satisfied. I had no real plans to step up and get out of this situation. 

With some differences in the details, all those people I recognized whether they have been around for a long or short time, are doing the same things I did all those years. They have no real plans for their future and as long as their immediate needs are met they won’t plan for the future either. That’s the depressing part. They will remain living their lifestyle until some event or circumstance occurs that will cause them to wake up and do the work necessary to remove themselves from that lifestyle.

I’ve got no solution as to how to cause them to want to change. Every person out here has different issues and different trigger points. The one thing we all have in common is that we have only two real ways to go when living this sort of lifestyle. They are to fail completely in our lives or to actively change our lives.