A Veteran of the Streets….
I
am a long time veteran…. A veteran of living, or rather merely
existing,
around
the periphery of life. Due to physical challenges, I was never
allowed
to serve in the military, but you do not need to serve in the
armed
forces to become a veteran of life.
Though,
instead of being honored for my service,
I’m
repeatedly told my very presence is illegal. No one would
want
the veteran status of living on the streets for decades.
It
has long since stopped being days, or months, or even years….
Living
Life on the streets has turned into decades, as I have been
forced
to live in decades on the streets. Seen as an obtrusion to others,
and
a threat, instead of a living,
feeling, breathing being.
Anchors
drifting in the sea of nowhere. The threads; the barest of threads
at
that, fraying more with each passing moment. Life is viewed
differently
when
you are not part of society, but rather sitting, or in some cases,
lying
around
the seams of society… we are certainly treated
differently
from being part of “regular” society.
I
never set out to become a veteran of the streets.
But
being readily and continually denied and refused
the
services and assistance I need, has forced me to become one.
Much
like the military veterans who are denied, year after endless year,
of
all the services and assistance they need. So I know the battle of
endurance
of going through this screwed up system, one that wants you to just
give
up
and
quit. A lot have done just that. Suicides from veteran’s are
at
an all time high, and a large portion of that is being denied their
service
and
help after returning from war. Not being listened to, not being
heard,
being
dismissed completely and just plain flat out ignored. It is the same
when
your
life is lived on the streets; no one wants to listen, you are not
considered
“society”, and not clumped in the “Human” group.
But
really, given the way the “Human” group acts and behaves….
It
is really not a group I want to be part of. It is because of the
“Human” group
that
the services and assistance needed has been denied and refused.
It
is because of the “Human” group that I have been forced to live
my life
on
the streets. It is because of the “Human” group that I have
experienced
hundreds
of bouts of food poisoning because of people’s gross non-hygienic
practices
when preparing food for others, which some have done purposely.
And
their practices have caused permanent damage through my digestive
tract,
I
am left paying the heavy, excruciating painful price of their
actions.
So
I am glad not to be associated with the “Human” group.
My
veteran status should not be one anyone should be forced to endure
or
become a part of. And like military veterans, those of us living out
our
lives
on the streets…. You lose hope and no longer look forward to life,
in
any regard.
Just
serving your time until your time is up and you are sent “Home”,
one
way
or
another. Being sentenced for a crime you never committed by this
“Human” group.
It
is truly sad that Veterans on the streets, and Veterans
of life living on the
streets
are treated in a similar manner. Our voices muted and covered up,
our
experiences closer together than not. Experiencing the worst of the
underside of this
“Human”
group. Humanity…. Where has it gone to? Does it even exist?
When
humanity turns their backs on those of us on the streets,
regardless
of how we came to be out here, our stories start to mesh together,
blending
and becoming a single story, where one starts and another
ends
becomes one and can no longer be separated. Our battleground becomes
the
streets, and the “Human”
group wages war on us daily for the
very
presence of our presence that the “Human”
group imposed on us.
We
live in a war zone all year long.
Being
a veteran of life on the streets takes a
tremendous
toll on your life, on your heart, on your mind….
And soon ... your body…. Denied the nourishment of life; Love.
So
is it any wonder that no one forced to live on the streets, thrives?
How
can one thrive when your very existence and
mere presence is swept
under
the rug; ignored, dismissed, and unwelcome?
Who
thrives without nourishment? But that nourishment is kept from
us
when life is cast out to lived on the streets. So instead of
thriving,
we
become hardened inside and out. While our insides corrode on the
deepest
levels and seeps into the very core of our being.
Life
on the streets changes
who
you are as a person, from the inside out.