Fibromyalgia Support Group
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She has been homeless for at least 5 years, and is living on the streets in this freezing weather. Her winter days consist of sitting on a bench outside of the Supermarket.
I get out of my warm truck, close up my long coat, and wrap my scarf around my neck and start to shiver as I make my way towards the store. As I'm walking, trying not to slip, and begin to say to myself "I hate this freezing winter weather", "I'm so cold, can't wait to get this grocery shopping done and get back home".
Then I stop,......dead in my tracks"....because now I see her at her usual spot on the bench. You can barely see Liz, except for her tiny face sticking out of a mountain of blankets. Her face is red and ruddy, and she looks frozen.
My legs are a little acky from the cold, the weather rips me apart, but I live in a house that has heat and hot water. I'm about to buy yet more food to stock up, so I can eat when and what I want. If I want a hot cup of tea, I do not have to depend of the kindness of others. I can just go into my pretty kitchen and prepare a cup.
Many times I've helped her, along with many others, considering the amount of blankets she has. But there have been times when she has refused money, telling me that she has enough right now. She is an honest and very kind woman. She does have pych problems, and should be on meds., but has told me that she believes the meds screw up her mind more. She is not trusting of strangers, and will not go to a shelter. So there she sits.
So here I am, sitting on my computer,....a little chilly.....thinking of Liz this homeless woman.......and wondering "How does she survive"! How is her body able to handle this freezing cold, day and night? Many nights have been below zero.
She is my reality check.....she always makes me walk away feeling even more grateful for what I have
I get out of my warm truck, close up my long coat, and wrap my scarf around my neck and start to shiver as I make my way towards the store. As I'm walking, trying not to slip, and begin to say to myself "I hate this freezing winter weather", "I'm so cold, can't wait to get this grocery shopping done and get back home".
Then I stop,......dead in my tracks"....because now I see her at her usual spot on the bench. You can barely see Liz, except for her tiny face sticking out of a mountain of blankets. Her face is red and ruddy, and she looks frozen.
My legs are a little acky from the cold, the weather rips me apart, but I live in a house that has heat and hot water. I'm about to buy yet more food to stock up, so I can eat when and what I want. If I want a hot cup of tea, I do not have to depend of the kindness of others. I can just go into my pretty kitchen and prepare a cup.
Many times I've helped her, along with many others, considering the amount of blankets she has. But there have been times when she has refused money, telling me that she has enough right now. She is an honest and very kind woman. She does have pych problems, and should be on meds., but has told me that she believes the meds screw up her mind more. She is not trusting of strangers, and will not go to a shelter. So there she sits.
So here I am, sitting on my computer,....a little chilly.....thinking of Liz this homeless woman.......and wondering "How does she survive"! How is her body able to handle this freezing cold, day and night? Many nights have been below zero.
She is my reality check.....she always makes me walk away feeling even more grateful for what I have
I drive past a woman like Liz every morning on my way to work. She "lives" on an overpass the crosses the tracks next to the Greyhound Bus Station. Summer or winter she is bundled up in a hooded jacket that obscures most of her face, and most of the time she is asleep, resting her head on her shopping cart. She spends her days (and presumably nights) sitting on a metal guardrail on that bridge. She's always there - I know she must move sometime but I've never been by that she's not there. Only someone severely mentally ill could live like that, but even so, she has to be uncomfortable.
I also think about her on her hard metal guardrail, with a metal shopping cart for a pillow, when I'm tossing and turning on my pillow-top mattress with my memory foam, neck supporting pillow.
We are not equipped to care for most of these people, as they are truly profoundly mentally ill. The problem is that somewhere in the 80s some misguided do-gooder decided it was depriving them of their civil rights to keep them in a hospital (where they were safe, fed, and got the meds they needed to keep them level). So...this is an improvement?
I never understand why we are sending our money all over the world when we have so many people in need of help right here. I don't wish any ill to anyone, but shouldn't our priority be taking care of our own before we try to save the rest of the world? There are some countries spending time trying to figure out how to get (and waste) more U.S. dollars, when here at home Liz is living on a bench, and this other poor lady lives on a guardrail on a bridge.
I don't get it.