I Can Always Hope.

Welcome To San Francisco the city which the homeless have destroyed Over the last 20 yrs. of being homeless I have watched as the homeless population has been given An opportunity to build for themselves a life in a wonderful beautiful city where they by the citizens have for the most part been accepted and cared for this is a city where you can always get something to eat always get clothes and always find transportation.
Having to travel from the north bay to the south bay to see go to a clinic that is at best until I jump thru a hoop not going to in any way see me I had to start my travels fairly early because I wanted to go and check out some of the old haunts I now remember why I am an rural dweller and not a city dweller this city is disrespected by almost every homeless person on its streets they have piled trash from it top to its bottom from High On Mt Tam To the Bay and beyond. It to me shows the hopelessness of their plight.
Where has gone the pride is what I ask it seems that People are both friendly and Cordial to myself and it is obvious that I am also homeless but I think being me I have respect for myself and it become a simple thing to try to respect others, It is not so with many here that has become perfectly clear. I run into an old friend early He was still doing The Same thing he has been doing for years waking up every morning and walking around town picking up trash He is a good man The thing is He grew up here and His Mom is the Only person He has Left in this world Now while He could chose to live with her He doesn’t he lives outside like myself And He has no grand aspirations to be anyone other than who He is. I am glad I run into Him I am going to bring dinner stuff To his camp soon and we will make a day of it He is camped where he has been now for some years and I know that He has simply lived this way and not been bothered for who He is He keeps His little part of the world Immaculate when you walk into His camp you are suddenly upon it because there is not a scrap of paper that blazes the trail and There are not a string of beer bottles along the path nor any signs pointing the way and all of a sudden you are standing in His living room. You can see His obvious respect for his community and I am sure because of where it is citizens that Hike and walk there dogs have happened upon Him and have never seen room for complaint because they too have seen it.
So you see Not every story or person who endures this life out here is the same and in some of those lives I take great pride in knowing that there are those that can live this life with dignity and then there are those that with great shame I am faced and this shame comes not from the way they live but with the very hope that has gone from their lives to have driven them so far into lives of desperation that they just don’t care for anything but merely to survive. Because I know that lives like mine are not driven in desperation while others are and I cry out hoping for them more, That hope in them might be reborn. But that can only come from others who begin to recognize that they are worthy of their acknowledgement. Because that is the reason for their hope that has been lost They where treated in ways that made them give up I and Steve and others I know like my friend Have never given up not because we are stronger or because we are more so filled with any special gift or blessings but because we have come to realize that hope does not come from others hope is something that if even amongst ourselves only, can be nurtured. Thru the faith that all men will one day be recognized as having value. Or maybe it is because we are just more used to this life and have come to respect it and what is has to offer never asking for more but being thankful for what it has given either way. I see again this Day that The Lord God Goes Before Me And blesses me in all that I am And do.
So I guess in the end The best way for anyone to combat homelessness is for everyone to face it as it is and Not to try to change the person who is homeless but to first restore their hope and to restore their dignity and their pride. to treat them as part of the community and to serve them and you will find that they are Human and are willing to serve others and together we can step into the Human race do not look at the homeless as those living hopeless helpless lives look at them as people who need help restoring their hope. It is not something that can be put into a plan of action we can not say Let us combat this homeless problem let us put all these people in houses that will take care of this problem, Instead lets begin to combat homelessness on its very basic level lets start combating homelessness with the homeless person and not the homeless problem.
But I live in a dream because I know That without great awareness Men will never say in this life It is ok for that cold tired hungry person to be free to seek refuge in our cities and our back yards and under our bridges and by our streams so the homeless will continue to be Run from one spot of comfort to another and Nothing will change. Because society will never accept those who are without hope as being anything more than hopeless.
But I can always Hope! Because My Hope is not in Men!