Vicarious Lives....

Life....on the outskirts of Society. Living life on the seams around the periphery of humanity when you're forced to live every moment of your life on the streets. Watching other people live their lives.... while we are cast to the wayside, not allowed to be involved in life itself....only permitted to watch from the sidelines, as a bystander but not an actual participant. Moments you envy as you experience life through the lens of others' endeavors, activities and involvement. I often wonder what it would be like, what it would feel like to be accepted and welcome in this thing called life. Be a real participant... instead of an audience member that is not allowed to BE. How do you make sense of life.... when you are not allowed to truly live? Is there a rhyme or reason for being other than just being present, where your

presence is not welcome?

Life takes on such a harsh new reality when you live outside,

without the warm, luxury that a home provides.

The textures, the meaning, the contexts.... so very different.

Having to live your life under the shadows of society, living on the underside of humanity.

Being forced on the streets means an endless life of degradation, inequality and inhumane treatment from those who have that very special luxury called a home...

For the most part, when those who have that luxury called a home find they are dealing with "One of those people" (as those of us on the streets are more often than not referred to in the nicest of terms), their attitudes shift 360˚ and become a re-enactment of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde -- their ugliness pours out uncontrollably. Bringing forth nasty remarks, ignorant, rude, hateful attitudes and violent behaviors -- and they see 'us' as the CraZy ones…

Immigrants are seen as first-class citizens in comparison and given all the bells and whistles, including FULL benefits of housing, warm clothing, Hot-meals, medical and dental coverage, in addition to receiving free money every month just for being an illegal. Yet for those of us who desperately NEED these 'so-called' benefits are not even given the time of day, much less, even acknowledged -- that is, unless you count being brutally de-humanized in the most unimaginable ways as being "acknowledged".

The mentally 'challenged' ones are treated like royalty and given Carte-Blanche.

When you find yourself on the brutal streets, you soon realize you've been given a LIFE SENTENCE-- and that is the stigma of being on the streets. Your life all but ends and is immediately replaced by ever-increasing violent assaults against your person, both physically as well as through their verbiage -- continually directed toward you day-in, day-out.