Homeless dudes

[asiaticdarkperson]

Ok first I wanna say that I'm not making this up. This is just synchronicity.

So there's this place in the northern-central area of the city where four big expressways all kinda intersect. In this part of the city almost all the space that isn't taken up by the roads is covered in woods. Some of the woods have been turned into parks and some haven't, and it's very common to find homeless people in the one's that haven't.

Anyway, a few days ago I was walking through these woods and I saw two young guys trying to set up a shelter against the rain (it was a rainy day) with some cardboard. They had a little fire going too.

I sat under a tree a short distance away from them, to take cover from the rain. I watched these guys for maybe like 20 minutes. I saw two young guys who had obviously just been roaming the city when it started to rain, and they found the nearest place to construct shelter.

The rain stopped three days ago but today was the first real sunny day since then. I was out smoking a joint in that same place. I noticed that the two dudes were still staying there. They weren't there at first. I just saw all their "stuff" and their pieces of carpet, blankets, etc lying around.

But then one of them showed up just as I was lighting the spliff so I offered him some and he took it. He wasn't too badly dressed. I thought he was dressed just like me; in torn and worn-out clothes and old-looking shoes. He asked me if I'd seen his friend. I told him that I'd just gotten there and I saw no one.

After like literally 2 minutes, I saw another guy approaching us. He was carrying a whole bag full of baguettes (bread.)

It turned out that they weren't from the city. One of them said he was from the south, the other didn't say but his accent said he was from western Iran. They asked me if it was OK for them to stay there for a while. I told them to "just try not to attract the attention of cops; otherwise it's a safe place and no one will probably bother you."

These guys were homeless and jobless too.

I asked them what they did during the days. "Nothing." was their answer. One of them said "we just go on aimlessly, moment by moment." I didn't think he meant this in any kind of deep philosophical sense, just in a "what else can we do?" sense.

I understood them perfectly, I thought.

I didn't talk with them for long. They wanted to eat, and they offered me to join them but I said goodbye and left.

[asiaticdarkperson]

SWIM was homeless for about 6 months, five years ago. But to him it was one of the best times of his life; yet it was also one of the darkest times of his life, he tells me.

SWIM started dealing meth when he realized he was homeless. This happened to be at a time when demand was high and increasing weekly, and very few people were dealing it in the city yet. It was a very profitable business for SWIM and for all dealers back then.

And SWIM basically owned most of these woods in the center of the city. He did not own them in the sense that he'd go demanding tribute or harrassing anyone. There were a number of other dealers there who dealt other drugs. And their customers + some homeless people were the "regulars" who inhabited these woods back then. SWIM was the guy everyone was afraid of and respected cause he could kick their ass and basically ban them from ever coming back there. SWIM was the tough guy because he was obviously the king of homelessness; everyone saw and knew that SWIM appeared to be enjoying every moment of his time, always surrounded by a crowd of girls and guys.

Homelessness wasn't a curse for SWIM, he tells me. SWIM says it was awesome and he never again felt as powerful as he did back then. SWIM says he bought himself a motorcycle and a car when he was homeless. He was free to go anywhere and do anything and his pocket was always full of cash. He knew a lot of rich people who smoked ice. He also had his "home" where he was always respected and welcomed, his "territory" -- the woods.

I can't speak for SWIM but I don't think homelessness is all that bad if you don't feel sorry for yourself. I think homelessness is a chance and an opportunity to experience something different than "civilized living."

SWIM says even though he isn't homeless anymore (he doesn't deal drugs anymore either) and that he has his own little house that he built in his orchard, and he also has a place to call home in the city (other than the woods,) he never lost his homeless mentality. He still goes day to day taking life as it comes.

[karlsie]

I think your key words were "as long as you don't go around feeling sorry for yourself". This self engaged pity party can ruin a banquet. In places where hardship is common, there is the tendency to make the best of a bad situation. Humor is used to keep the mood elevated. I know there are homeless people who don't like their situation and not having a choice doesn't seem fair. Ideally, everybody should be allowed to choose their own life styles, but the forcefulness of economics and politics have placed many in the position of making the best of a bad situation.

I appreciate the stories and personal experiences of people who have witnessed poverty and homelessness, but i don't share their bitterness. I've been so hungry in the past, while experiencing Mexico's peso crash, i would sometimes lay awake at night feeling my ribs to measure how much they were protruding, but i was never truly bitter about it; the circumstances, maybe, but not the experience. I got through those days with the help of a lot of wonderful, amazing people and i consider it one of the most educational phases of my life.

[asiaticdarkperson]

karlsie, the point that I'm trying to get at is that in the world there exists individual people, with their unique individual problems. There is no way to generalize a thing like homelessness IMO.

Every single man and woman on earth experiences life differently, in their own terms. The same thing can mean different things to different people.

There is Parisa, Ahmad, the two homeless fellows in the woods, and there is my self... Each person on earth has his/her own story; we each have our own personal case that belongs to each of us alone and is a sign of our individuality in the face of infinity. It is the sum total of everything we've ever done; <-- this is what defines us in the face of infinity, it's how "the universe" (the world; whatever is 'out there') knows us as opposed to how we know ourselves.

And as regards to homelessness (I'm going to be annoying again, so sorry) if I look beyond the fact that "I love my house" and "I think a house is an unquestionable necessity for life" which are both extremely subjective states, I will arive at a point where it is obvious what a home really is. A home is a cage; and cities are like enormous prisons where there are countless cages all crammed into a small area. Each cage has an address and a phone number.

A home is where a race of godlike travelers of infinity are slowly rotting away under absurdly comfortable "climate controlled" conditions.

There really is no "homeless problem" today IMO karlsie. Believe me, the real problem is so dreadful that homelessness isn't even an issue in comparison.

[asiaticdarkperson]

I think modern medicine is flawed because of this same basic assumption of generalization.

Modern medicine is a vast edifice of 'empirical' knowledge (derived from experience) that has been accumulated over thousands of years by observing the behavior and symptoms of "sick" people. We have today a system of cross referencing certain symptoms with certain "disorders" that are assumed to be the same for everyone. We treat these symptoms with generic drugs that are "one size fits all" -- so to speak.

I'm somewhat familiar with the medical profession, through family. I know that in recent years the medical establishment has been increasingly faced with new diseases of which there is no previous record at all; they are seeing new symptoms and behavior they've never seen before. They are perceiving new disorders that are completely unknown in terms of cause or treatment.


The truth is I believe that generalizing sicknesses the way we have done is a mistake. Although the symptoms may be the same, the actual illnesses that afflict people are personal.

One method or technique of modern medical healing is called "symptomatic treatment." This is IMO the most widely used method among doctors today. It is based on the observation that with certain diseases, it is possible to eliminate the symptoms using certain drugs. And when the symptoms are suppressed, the illness seems to vanish as well. This tactic doesn't concern itself at all with the cause of sickness; and is based entirely on preconceived generalization.

I'm also personally familiar with another form of medical profession that exists on earth. This is the medical practice of the native man; the "primitive man." Now, before you discard this offhand consider this: The Amazonian man (woman) was able to survive to the modern day, and is still surviving deep in the jungle, by using only his own practice of healing. So, they are on par with us, with the white man.

The doctor that has kept them healthy and brought them to the 21st century is the curandero; the shaman or "shapori" as the Yanomama peoples of the Orinoco basin know him.

The shaman's method of healing is based on absolutely no preconceptions, assumptions or generalizations.

The shaman ingests his psychedelic of choice (if he needs to) and then proceeds to blow mapacho smoke on the patient. Then he "sees" the illness, in purely abstract terms. Depending on the temperament of the shaman and the circumstances of the patient, the shaman will choose to either "take out" the disease, or tell the sick man exactly what to do to make himself well again.

The shaman does not take the disease out by cutting open the patient's body, although it might appear so. The shaman doesn't actually use his hands at all. He reaches into the patient's body with his "abstract hands" and pulls out the disease as if it were a concrete thing. To observers this entire abstract procedure/operation looks like the shaman actually cuts open the patient's physical body and takes a black diseased organ out.

Of course I realize there are plenty of charlatans out there. But I think finding out who they are is ridiculously simple. Only a charlatan would ask for any kind of payment; a true shaman heals people for free because this is his "job" in the face of infinity, and not in the face of society mind you.

[asiaticdarkperson]

This I think represents the two distinct basic mentalities that exist on earth today. These are two different ways of dealing with the fact that "we are alive."

One is to generalize the whole thing; the civilized man assumes that life is basically the same experience from different people's perspectives; he also assumes that death is the same generic experience for everyone too.

Two is to not generalize it; I assume that life is an altogether different experience for each and every person; each person's existence is unique individually. I assume that death is also like life; different for different individuals.

Based on the second worldview, concerning oneself with other people's affairs is stupid, and compassion (as I've defined before; distinct from love or empathy) is a disease.

[asiaticdarkperson]

In light of all this, I say that for these two homeless guys of the OP it is their fate to be where they are. And we are in no position to assess their fate.

Tonight is forecast to be -8°C (18°F?) and the two fellows are still sleeping in those woods tonight. If I refrain from feeling sorry for them, all that is left is life; inexplicable.

Something bigger than you and I is moving us around, karlsie. For us to question this is an abomination IMO. How can we know "why" these guys are 'homeless'? How can we know it's better for them to be in a home? Who are we to say? (try to see past the standpoint of "I like home.")

[asiaticdarkperson]

update: yesterday their number had increased to 5. they've banded into a tribe and that specific part of the woods is their territory.

I've seen this happen before, and usually what happens is cops eventually bust them and disperse them. If the cops don't do this, these homeless take over an area of the earth instinctually and start living there; they might accept new homeless people into their tribe, or they might kick some members out, they might start selling drugs, sharing food with eachother, harrassing, mugging and assaulting people who enter their territory, and even bringing homeless prostitutes to their "settlement" for some fun, etc. etc. A real-life tribe.

But the police will never allow them to get so far because they've seen it happen before too.