~
Drifting~
Drifting….
That is what you find yourself doing when you are forced
to
live every moment on the streets…. Drifting from one place to
another,
with
no specific direction in mind, since any direction takes you to the
same place,
just
a different location. The experience remains intact, no matter where
you drift to.
When
you are not welcome wherever you are….. makes no difference
where
you go. And when you live on the streets….. drifting becomes
second
nature that just falls into place,
as
you have an abundance of experience perfecting the art.
Drifting
as life passes you by all around. Like driftwood in a stream or
river,
life
on the streets takes you in all directions, and usually not of your
choosing.
Some
cities even take the measures to physically remove the homeless from
their cities by
putting
us on the bus or Bart (Bay Area Rapid Transit)
to
remove us out of the way, when we were doing nothing but minding our
own
business, but the cities claiming our presence is
“illegal”
and they have “City Ordinances” that prohibit people from
being
present when they do not have a physical residence, regardless of
where you happen to be….
The
park, waiting for a bus or just sitting some place to rest your tired
feet, our
presence
is unwelcome just for being present and just being.
Drifting
becomes even more apparent when you go looking
for
the help and assistance that is “supposed” to be there for those
on the streets.
But
what you find instead of the help when you do not fit the role of
the
commercialized
version of the homeless in looks, actions, and
behaviour…
that “help” bounces you endlessly around, claiming
they
don’t have the resources. So you get tossed from one agency
to
another, from one community center to churches, to non-profits,
and
back. Due to the glaring fact that I am CLEAN, and have
never even tried
those
life destroying habits that so many do, much less been consumed by
them, and
I
am not an illegal alien…. That so-called help is why I still find
myself without a home.
H
E L P….. what a cruel word that imposes on your life when you
live on the streets.
Even
more so when you are denied and refused because of habits you
never
started,
and the length of time outside widens
that
chasm when the ones that are supposed to be there to help, tell you
repeatedly
that your circumstance does not “qualify” as an emergency, and
therefore
you do not qualify for any assistance. Putting you
literally
between a rock and a hard place, in the truest sense.
Denied
and refused the help you need to
move
forward, while being denied your existence that has never
qualified
for the assistance needed. So drifting becomes a very real
part
of your life...as life has left you no choice to do otherwise.
With
life on the streets, more bad seems to overshadow the good.
But
there is some good you find along the way.
Watching
the sunrises, morning after morning…..
year
after endless year... when it isn’t raining, foggy or overcast.
Being
surrounded by Nature and Her beauty and incredible loving furry and
feathered
friends, who have opened their world to me, time and again.
In
fact, Nature’s magnificent creatures who share my days and nights,
are
the only ones who have ever accepted me as me.
That
in and of itself is the greatest gift.
Animals….
Mother Nature’s perfect companion.
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