The
Toll of the Streets….
When
your life is lived on the streets, the longer you are forced to live
outside,
the
harder the toll it takes on you, especially in terms physically.
Living
on the streets exposes you to everything and
everyone,
even when your very presence is unwelcome.
Aside
from not being able to eat properly;
(as real meals are a rarity that becomes a treasured morsel when you do
have
a
real meal to eat) the three most pressing things that take the
hardest
toll on you on the streets; the weather, battling an endless array of insects,
and
the attitudes and treatment from people deciding that we warrant
their
ugliness
due to a circumstance we didn't choose.
Life
on the streets; most people never consider what it is actually like
having
to live your life, every facet of your life, on the streets.
But
when you are outside 24/7, you don’t get a break from the weather.
And
even more so having to contend with the stormy weather; high winds,
heavy
rains, stormy weather filled with misery
and
having no place to really protect yourself from any of it.
It
is like being in the boxing ring with a hundred fighters,
pummeling
you, over and over and over….. when the harsh rains and heavy
winds
finally ease back, you literally feel as though not only
were
you beat to hell by it all, but like you have been run over
by
a steam roller, going back and forth, slowly crushing you first
from
one end, then to the other, then being hit by and run over by
a
large truck. It tears you up having no choice but to endure
and
experience Mother Nature at Her worst.
One
of my main areas I stay in, well, actually one of the spots
I
have found for the night, where I have been staying for quite some
time,
is
no longer available due to Mother Nature’s fury.
When
I left my “spot” earlier in the day, the tree I was under was
still
up and still standing, but on my return; the same tree was downed
directly
where I had been. Just glad I was not there when it happened.
Another
thing people never consider for those of us having
to
live on the streets and battle the weather,
is
our areas get flooded out, frozen over, and trees come down all
around you,
or
directly in your path that held your presence just a brief time
earlier.
This
is certainly not the first time having to move by force of Nature.
One
of the many hazards of having to live outside.
There
is a long list of contenders fighting for attention.
Living
on the streets turns into how to survive this thing called LIFE,
that
is more of a cruel joke than anything else, when that very life is
lived on the streets.
The
hazards of streets life….
Oh
let me count (some of) the ways;
*
Weather in every extreme....from the baking heat of Summer to the
freezing
temperatures of Winter with Heavy rains, pummeling hail,
harsh,
crushing winds that bring about downed trees, downed power lines,
flooded
areas making it impossible to get where you need to go,
frozen
ground, frost covered ground, icy patches that bring you
crashing
to the ground, an endless assortment of insects
that
only come out through and during the night;
as
they seek you out for dinner... and lunch… and breakfast, along
with
anytime
in between, leaving their marks on your person;
The
muck and mire of street life.
Winter
is truly the worst time having to live on the streets.
During
the warmer months, it is easier to move around,
but
the heat makes it more challenging to breathe,
while
the colder temperatures are much more challenging to move in
and
around, but the air is easier to breathe.
*
No regular meals, no ready access to facilities to use for
waste
disposal (finding a restroom) or clean up.
* Being assaulted and consumed, night after endless night by insects.
*
Nowhere to be but not allowed wherever you are.
*
Holidays – as this limits transit, if it runs at all, and
makes
clean up and waste disposal (trying to find a restroom)
an
even greater adventure, since every place is closed.
And
clean up is always under icy cold water to wash your face
and
body, and hair. Clean up in cold weather, is really hard to endure,
adding
the icy temps of the icy cold water, mixed with the icy, cold, biting
air.
*
Finding some place to wash clothes, which usually ends up being
a
park sink filled with cold, icy water. Then drying is done by
blanketing
bushes
and stringing line or cord between trees or poles to lay some clothes
over
like a clothes line. It works OK, unless the weather is always wet
and soggy.
*
Finding yourself covered in people’s nasty habits; chewed gum,
spit,
junk
from smokers, chewed tobacco, eliminating wherever they choose….
and
their pets eliminations they refuse to pick up after, And Nature
itself….
Insects.
Just to name a few.
*
During the day, unless it is a Holiday, you can usually find
some
place to go for a little while, but come evening, there is no place
to go.
Everything
and every place shuts down for the night.
Aside
from some Safeways that are open 24/7, you cannot always rely
on
having that to go to through the night.
Survival
mode becomes your default setting every moment of the day,
and
all through the night. A mode you find has no turn off switch.
On
guard all the time. But being outside is much safer than any
so-called
“shelter”.
Not
to mention, you have no privacy. The thing about shelters that
people
fail
to understand is you cannot just “go to a shelter”. It does not
work that way.
You
have to literally make an appointment several weeks, or months well
in
advance
to do an “intake”. They won’t let you just walk in anytime
because
the weather is bad. If you have not had an “intake” taken, they
shut
the door in your face, and tell you to call in a few weeks. Yet, how
are
you supposed to call? Even when you are able to find a way to call,
you are
repeatedly
told to keep calling back, because they have no room. So you are
stuck
in the cycle, and going in circles, only to keep
ending
up right where you were.
