Cost of Living...

                          

  The Cost of Living.... in 2016

For every person, the cost of living means something entirely different.  When you live 

on the streets, the cost of living is truly off the charts.  Especially when your only 

source of income is partial SSI.  According to the Social Security Administration, 

there has been NO cost of living increase, which means there was no

 "Cost of Living Adjustment" to SSI recipients, which is only pennies, literally....never 

more than a whole of $.028 cents max has ever been "awarded" for cost of living increase 

with those of us relying on SSI for everything.  But the usual increase, is $.017 cents, if

 we receive anything at all.  Which, this year, was denied from Social Security, claiming their nonsense of there being no cost of living increase.  Yet, they all received a good sized

 "Cost of Living Adjustment" in the form of a raise..... 

I am wondering where they are getting their erroneous information that decided on this.  

Have they purchased this basic necessity called "Food" lately?  Everything has gone up, 

especially, food.  And not by a few cents, either, but by a huge margin.  Food alone has 

increased by several dollars across the board, even more so when your food purchased has 

to be pre-made, or ordered from a restaurant.  Because you have no place to store, prepare 

or cook food when you have no roof over your head. Which being on partial SSI, does not 

afford the luxury of even being able to eat properly, much less have a well rounded meal 

even a couple times a month.  If there has been no cost of living increase, as Social Security Administration claims, then why has everything increased exponentially in price?  Doesn't 

the huge increase in price = cost of living increase?  Am I missing something here?  

Trying to get sustenance when you live on the streets become an ever-increasing challenge 

to those of us out here.  Eating regularly becomes a luxury we can no longer afford.  The 

tiny sum you receive when your only source of income is partial SSI, and recycling when 

you can, does not even cover the bare basics of living..... or of life, much less the 

cost of food.  Making it much more challenging to fill that empty void 

gnawing through your stomach.

It has been made crystal clear, time and time again, that our lives on the streets do not matter.  

We're denied the very rights of being alive and present... denied the most precious bare 

bones basics of life's necessities of living like; food, shelter, a real home, toiletries 

for personal hygiene, ready access to restrooms.  We're denied our right to vote because 

we do not have a physical residence.  We have no permanent place to receive our mail.  

We're denied our very right to just sit and be without the cops being called on us. 

 Denied our very existence, in fact, we are told it is illegal for us to be present and 

in public.  Our lives are trashed and kicked to the wayside because of a 

circumstance we never chose.

And now, that all women's restrooms are "Gender Neutral", we cannot even use the 

toilet without being on full display.  Women should start going outside, use the 

bushes.....    it would be a lot more private for us to do our very personal business that 

is now made hugely public because men refuse to use their own restrooms.

Yeah, that was a brilliant idea!!!    How could there possibly be any issues or problems 

with men in the women's restrooms.....   aside from being fully exposed, now we have to 

worry about what they are going to do to us being in the same room.  There is a HUGE 

difference when using the restrooms.  For women, we are naked, full exposure from 

the waist down.... due to the equipment we were issued at birth.  So how can this be OK 

having men using our room?  There is a Women's room for a reason.  If men choose to 

believe they are of one gender, but embodied in a different one.... I have no problem 

with that, but until they change their equipment, then please use the actual men's room.  

Men have their rooms for a reason, as well.  Because the majority of men now have 

decided that it's their "right" to come in to the women's restrooms whenever they feel 

like it, you never know what will happen, or what to expect when you go to open the 

door to the women's restroom.  They should have "Gender Neutral" restrooms, 

not be taking over the women's restrooms.  

I spend a lot of time in the park, especially on nice days, reading under the shade of 

beautiful trees.... then when I need to relieve myself, I don't expect men or teens to be 

in where I need to use.  But that has happened more and more of late.  And it is not 

only a shock when you open the women's restroom door and find a handful of male 

teens inside, it's disheartening.  It makes me wary of needing to use the restroom.... 

what or who will I find inside?  

So, are our genders.... the female genders, becoming obsolete?   This is 

becoming more true with each passing moment.  

Meals on the Streets....

Meals….

~Meals On the Streets~

The Reality of what it is truly like

The empty void of Hunger;

One of the things that go quickly by the wayside when your home no

longer has those walls around the sides and no longer

 with the roof overhead, are meals….

Meals are not something that is often encountered

on the streets, not in any regular sense, anyway. 

And “meals” on the streets are different than real meals.

 On the streets, a “meal” turns into anything that fills you,

and fills that empty void of your stomach…. Crumbs here, a few pieces there,

 or whatever you can find, is a meal. Eating becomes inconsistent, at best,

very sporadic-- getting pieces and slivers here and there along the way...

 meals have long since taken leave, and “Meals” themselves take

 on a whole new meaning when you are on the streets. Whatever you

 have to dine on, whether it be some bread, a piece of fruit, sometimes

not even a whole fruit, but a slice or two, or perhaps a wedge of apple or

 orange, a yogurt, a piece of cheese... these become 'meals'.

And each by themselves are separate meals. 

But nothing close to what a real meal consists of, much

 less the 3 meals a day, or the 5 smaller meals

 that have become more popular of late….that “we are supposed to have”.

 That never happens, not when you do not have a real home to store, prepare and

cook real food. You are left to whatever is around you… and already prepared.

Which, in and of itself poses a host of other problems on its own…..

 having to rely on the food prepared by others, you are

 putting your faith, health, and life, literally, in their hands and can only

hope they practice good hygiene and wash their hands as they are required

to do, but that rarely is the case. I have been on the receiving end of several

dozens, if not hundreds, of cases of food poisoning because of the ill preparation

 in the way the food was handled and made.  

So the ones, like myself, who have to fully rely on pre-made foods prepared

 by others, it makes life on the streets that much harder to bare…… the very little nutrition you have at your disposal, turns toxic after you ingest it because some employee decides to use the bathroom then return to work without washing their hands, or immersed in cleaning, then prepare foods after handling the dirty mop water and broom/mop handles without washing their hands. They give absolutely no thought if or how their actions will affect anyone else. They do not see any need to wash their hands, since

 they don’t “look” dirty, so they must be clean. 

 My system has been torn up, time and again because of the actions of others, 

or rather the lack of actions when preparing food for others, to the point of most

 food now causes the unbearable, excruciating pain and all the

wonderful accruements that accompany it.

So eating becomes more of a challenge in every regard.

Living on the streets, especially when it is by the illegal actions of a landlord that forced you out,

 becomes even more limited and stretched thinner and thinner, where resources that

you need are nowhere to be found.  Having to eat “whatever” and prepared by “whoever” takes

 a hard toll on your body, sometimes in devastating and catastrophic ways that we are

forced to suffer through and endure.

Compounded even more when you do not have ready access to a restroom, and then when you

 do have access, you are on stage, with a full on audience, judging and commenting

 on your very presence and instead of offering any kind of help, they just add to the misery

 you are forced to contend with. Your every action, every breath,

every step is always on public display.

It is challenging enough having to deal with the hand life has dealt you,

but then when you have to be subjected to people’s ugliness on top of that, it makes

being present the worst experience imaginable.