Dear Friends:

The other day while traveling, I entered a rustic diner in a small mining town, very high up in the Rockies. As I was standing at the counter ordering a coffee, I overheard a conversation between a woman who I think was the diner’s owner and a disheveled looking man.

“You are going to have to help out around here some”

I was given my coffee mug and proceeded to fill it with some much needed coffee and went and sat down at a table. The worn down looking man then went and sat in the booth across from my table. He had a plastic shopping bag as one gets from a grocery store and opened it and took out a few pages torn from a book.

I was very familiar with the pages that he was looking at. It was dealing with various snare and deadfall trap types. I mentioned to him I knew a little bit about snaring and we discussed various methods. He admitted he knew nothing about snaring, and someone had given him those pages. He was very interested in living off the local game that he saw in the area. He also admitted he was very hungry, had not eaten in days, and that he was going to do some work for his breakfast. The owner telling him to help out was her way of giving him charity, and at least she was willing to do it. It made me glad to see she brought him the largest breakfast in the diner !

He went on to tell me he was searching old abandoned silver mines for minerals in which he sold. Sometimes he had part time work when one of the local diners or other businesses needed him for labor. He had come to this town from being homeless in a large city, and was glad to be away from it even while still being homeless. He told me the smaller town was not a mecca, but the people were better and helped him occasionally with the sporadic tourist buying his minerals. He explained his camp was outside of town, and no one bothered him there either.

He told me the mineral business was a little slow.  According to the locals, the tourist and RV’s where not as plentiful as in the past . This was effecting him some as well as the others, and the more he talked, the more I liked him. What was disheveled in his appearance was the fact that he had a diminutive frame dressed in clothes that were too large.  When I looked closer I noticed he did maintain his hygiene to the best of his circumstances, even to having very white shiny teeth. The more he talked the more he loosened up and you could tell he was once a very articulate and intelligent guy.

As I was getting ready to go, I had a feeling of sorrow. He told me that he loved living in the area, and wanted to stay there forever. My sadness came from knowing that even if he recovers himself, those people in that town will probably always view him with the eye that he was once homeless, lower on the social spectrum and stigmatized for once being homeless.

I have written  that larger cities are not always a better place for the homeless to dwell in. In a smaller town social relationships are closer, more intimate, and like the saying goes: “Everyone knows everyone’s business”.  Even if the gentleman did change his situation; he would probably have to move away from there to be considered an “equal” in the eyes of others at some point. In the short term, things were better for him.

At that high elevation in the mountains it is very cold and far from any type of services. He is taking care of himself admirably . I wish him luck.

Wanderingvet

Dear Friends:

Sometimes my inbox receives some incredible articles. Here is one for Veterans that I feel is important to share that was sent to me courtesy of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. A full copy of the article is attached below. One can also receive the wrong information from the VA showing up in person as well. Articles like this make one need to learn more and know your veterans rights.

Mystery caller and VA help line

MARTIN SCHRAM

Dear Friends:

Wow what times we are seeing and living in! Bank failures, foreclosures, gasoline rising to nearly $5.00 in parts of the U.S., more companies (including banks) laying off more Americans, and relief being needed in every corner.   Listening to our President, or any of the Presidential Candidates running , it will take years for the nation to turn around.

In the meantime, while all of the economic woes are hitting this country, more and more Americans are falling through the cracks. Homeless shelters are filling and the need for aid is increasing.  Congress has HR 840, The Hearth Act before them this week before the House Finance’s Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity. This measure does not bail out a sector of industry, it aids human beings more directly. Keep reading →

Barbara Harvey lives in her car with her two golden retrievers(.Source AFP)

Several months ago I struck up a conversation with a stranger about our mutual admiration of dogs. He had a beautiful dog that was with him and being the animal lover that I am I stopped to pet the dog after coming out of the grocery store. This man was articulate, friendly and had an obvious pride of the dog that he told me he rescued. We continued our conversation as we both walked to our cars. It was the type of interaction among strangers that left a smile on my face. Not only was this man genuinely nice but he also had so much pride in this animal who he saved from abuse…both good things in my opinion. As we wrapped up our conversation and said goodbye this stranger went over to his car that was parked next to mine. As he opened the door I then realized that this car was home to both he and his beloved dog. Keep reading →

Recently a friend and I became embroiled in a discussion about homelessness. I had been discussing statistics (of which I am a fan) and he was saying that the current foreclosure crisis was not creating as much homelessness as I was spouting.

The other day he had to admit I was actually more accurate than even he had surmised. USA Today published a “Limited Survey” of a few states. Some of these states, as you will note in this article, show that street or shelter homelessness has increased by over 30% in many states in 2008 because of Foreclosures.

The federal figures for 2007 include only 2005’s actual accounting and will not encompass this year. The 2007 figures released by the government state that homelessness had remained “neutral” over the last ten years. Keep reading →

Dear Friends:

I recently had someone named Hayden write to me regarding the article I wrote titled “The Man”. Hayden went on to say the following:

Its extreme egocentricity to believe the damaged and unfortunate we see on our streets is any sort of problem just because it makes US feel bad.

One nutbag is no tragedy.

I admit I just sat there and looked at Hayden’s email.

I am a huge believer in the the Declaration of Independence and that “All Men Have Unalienable Rights”. That includes medical treatment and kindness. When the forefathers wrote the DOI, they wrote it for all of its citizens… For every “Nutbag” as Hayden would call them is included.

The Homeless are not treated as equal citizens in this country. We do have a class system of the “have and have nots”. Keep reading →

Dear Friends:

The other day I was standing on a bridge just gazing, clearing my thoughts, not really thinking nor comprehending. People going back and forth, going to work, shopping and doing whatever it is that they do, swinging their bags to and fro. Cars, taxis, police vehicles and buses rolling along the streets. Just another day in a downtown.

As I was mindlessly staring something was nagging my consciousness. I started staring into the crowds and was watching them going around a man…

He was not well dressed. He was in a raggedy T-shirt, old sneakers and ratty pants. His hair was disheveled, eyes were cast down. Keep reading →

Dear Friends and Wanderingvets:

Recently I ran into a situation where I could not get my tinder to stay lit. I was backpacking in the woods and all I had for tinder was some small sticks and there was no dry grass available for tinder to aid in lighting the wood.

So ,scratching my head in what to do, since making the wood bow out of wood and the ever present dental floss was out of the question something did dawn on me from my reading. I reached deep into my cargo pocket where I keep my ever present bottle of hand sanitizer and reread the back of the bottle again and it said: Ethyl Alcohol62%……Antiseptic. Like a blue flash I had an idea.

I took a twig and placed a two inch line of hand sanitizer along its stem. I then lit it without result I thought. I lit it again and burned my finger as it was burning so clear and hot that it was burning invisibly. The fire had started without me being able to see it.

I had a fire within minutes. This is a good tip for wet areas.

Wanderingvet.

One of the recurrent themes seen throughout the US regarding the homeless population is that local communties seem to be notorious for their negative stance towards homelessness. That is, most communities view the issue of homelessness as something that is a nuisance to deal with. It’s human nature to avoid issues that are a  nuisance and most local communities follow suit in finding ways to avoid dealing with the homeless. Many cities deal with the nuisance of homelessness by making such ordinances as prohibiting panhandling, forbidding sleeping on public benches, tearing down homeless camps…all things that merely avoid dealing with the underlying issue of why people find themselves homeless.

It’s a rarity for people to tackle nuisances head on  and find a way to deal with them. It’s much easier to blame others, create divisions of “right and wrong” and never take the time to actually analyze the underlying problem of something that is seen as a nuisance.  Keep reading →