COMMUNITY
There is a friend of mine that is doing particularly poorly with the closing of my homeless camp.
He’s watched as his friends left last week and are already on the run from a city that doesn’t want them on my property or anywhere else.
Most people that you bought supplies and tents for to help transition off of my property have already lost it all. First, other homeless people stole the tents from them. And then on Monday of this week the city threw away the rest of them.
This man has watched all of this.
He came to me after spending 18 years in prison. He already was a detail-oriented person. He likes to know exactly how things are going to work. The prison institution put that need on steroids.
I had him comfortable and stabile. His parole officer knew exactly where he was. He would come and visit him. As long as the house has a shower and a toilet his PO was cool.
Now he has to move. He’s the last person living on my property.
I’ll say: “How about this?” No!
“How about that?” No!
He’s frozen in fear.
He’s talking about going back to Youngstown. He has no family left. All he has is his life of crime there. But it’s all he can think of.
*****
Ray Greene Jr. spoke a great deal about community on the night we met in front of City Hall where there was a bomb threat and they did not tell us.
He told us to go make friends with our neighbors. Have get togethers.
*******
Sheltering homeless people in tents has made me deeply understand the power of community. It doesn’t matter what kind of shelter you live in. If you have a community that supports you you are incredibly fortunate.
Community is something most of us have lost. The structure of America creates isolation. We’re too tired to invite neighbors over. All we have energy for these days is Netflix and eating.
Please try to think about expanding your community just a little bit. I find that it feels good even for me, an introvert who thinks he’s happier at home by himself. It’s not actually true.
There is a friend of mine that is doing particularly poorly with the closing of my homeless camp.
He’s watched as his friends left last week and are already on the run from a city that doesn’t want them on my property or anywhere else.
Most people that you bought supplies and tents for to help transition off of my property have already lost it all. First, other homeless people stole the tents from them. And then on Monday of this week the city threw away the rest of them.
This man has watched all of this.
He came to me after spending 18 years in prison. He already was a detail-oriented person. He likes to know exactly how things are going to work. The prison institution put that need on steroids.
I had him comfortable and stabile. His parole officer knew exactly where he was. He would come and visit him. As long as the house has a shower and a toilet his PO was cool.
Now he has to move. He’s the last person living on my property.
I’ll say: “How about this?” No!
“How about that?” No!
He’s frozen in fear.
He’s talking about going back to Youngstown. He has no family left. All he has is his life of crime there. But it’s all he can think of.
*****
Ray Greene Jr. spoke a great deal about community on the night we met in front of City Hall where there was a bomb threat and they did not tell us.
He told us to go make friends with our neighbors. Have get togethers.
*******
Sheltering homeless people in tents has made me deeply understand the power of community. It doesn’t matter what kind of shelter you live in. If you have a community that supports you you are incredibly fortunate.
Community is something most of us have lost. The structure of America creates isolation. We’re too tired to invite neighbors over. All we have energy for these days is Netflix and eating.
Please try to think about expanding your community just a little bit. I find that it feels good even for me, an introvert who thinks he’s happier at home by himself. It’s not actually true.