Prologue

Make no mistake, the public shelter is not FREE:
The basic human rights to dignity and independence are paid on a regular basis.
The basic human needs of rest and comfort are absent. A metal frame bed is supplied.
A mattress, encased in plastic and a pillow of the same material is supplied.
The mattress collapses after a very short while as does the pillow.
The mattress must be supported by some means (rolled blanket or otherwise).
Linens are supplied once weekly. Often they are malodourous (vinegar, urine, etc.). They are stamped “Property of DHS” as a reminder.
Toiletries are supplied as requested. Small items of deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo, lotion and combs. They are supplied in a bag clearly marked “Homeless”.
During the day, residents are forbidden to remain in the dorm, no matter what the weather.
In the evening, the halls are full of noises from the less-considerate and less civilized residents, yelling and opening and closing doors to dorms not theirs.
Men yelling at the staff and security staff.
Men congregating in the toilets.
Those who are responsible for maintaining any sort of human dignity are apathetic.
Most residents are viewed as being socially flawed and incompetent.
Many residents are socially flawed and incompetent.
However, residents who indicate any sort of capabilities, those who have simply suffered a set-back in life in general are addressed in a manner similar to those who simply do not want to function in society or with society.
Depression abounds and needs to be fought regularly.
Lighting in the dorm is fluorescent and overly bright. Lights are turned on in the middle of the night for checks by security forces. Security personnel enter and leave the dorm at will without notification or acknowledgement of the presence of any other person there-in.
There are those who will work in their lives, there are those who will not work at all. Those who do not work, those who will not work enjoy disturbing those who are working at all hours of the night.
Those who work are subjected to long waits to enter the building, passing through the preliminary “security” check, while watching the paid officers chatting, eating and other-wise ignoring the fact that there are people waiting to enter the building. Many of these are looking for nothing more than dinner, a shower and a chance to relax after a day’s work.
It seems the System is geared to encourage failure at any and all attempts to leave.

9:03pm Tuesday 8 January 2013 Richford, Vermont

How strange to sit in this beautiful old Victorian house, in a village just moments from the place I have called “HOME” for so long, and to sign-off on this Journal. But Life, for all things, eventually must come to pass, opening a place for those Lives which need the space that we have inhabited for what-ever time we have done so. Tonight, it is my turn to make a place for the next Life that will inhabit this space. And I do so with more Joy in my Heart and Soul than I can express anywhere and in any of the 8 languages, means of communicating with all people and Peoples over the course of my Life-time.

I am tired, and looking forward to the Peace of Sleep. I look forward to going “HOME”, never to be “Homeless” again.

When you read these pages, these words, I hope… no… I HOPE you will find something in your Heart that you will pay very careful attention to. I have always thought it strange that we will run to the nearest animal shelter to adopt a “pet”, we will bolt to the nearest “pet store” to “buy” an particular animal to take home and care for and about. But, when it comes to other PEOPLE, it has become so simple and easy to turn a hateful eye toward other people and we can simply Hate the Homeless with-out taking a moment to actually learn why and how that person came to be Homeless… and how that person suffers… and how we can help abolish the suffering of that person.

I will not say that “all” Homeless people should be given a place of their own. No. There are clearly some who cannot and will not be able to support themselves in such an environment. But I will say that society is INCREDIBLY SELFISH AND FILTHY AND MISERABLE AND WELL PAST ITS WORTH IN ALL OF CREATION because it turns a completely blind eye and dead heart toward those who have simply suffered what we, in the Shelter of NYC called “a bump in the road of Life”.

There IS a perfectly simple solution, a “Cure” if you will. There are those who honestly, and with all their Hearts and Souls fight, every single moment of every single day to find the means and the way to having a little shelter of their own… the place others call “home”.

Funds are directed toward the “studies” of Homelessness and the “studies” of finding ways to prevent “Homelessness”. They’re all plain, worthless shit. Chanel those same funds into creating and giving the Homeless a place of their own, a place where they can be in the same environment that you, Dear Reader, enjoy and selfishly take advantage of each and every moment of each and every day, and I will guarantee that you will be amazed beyond belief by the success you will have created!

Stop relying in the government for the “cure”, the end of Homelessness. The government is useless and so impotent that words cannot express. The solution is… YOU! And if YOU turn away, all I will say to you is that, in my very Heart and Soul I will pray that Justice be served and that YOU FEEL by EXPERIENCE, exactly what it is that we, the “Homeless” experience every day.

To the rest of you? To you who CARE? I will always Pray that, if there IS some kind of “God”, what-ever that may be, that all Blessings be freely given to you. And may you be Blessed 100 times more than every tear that I have ever shed as a Homeless person.