The Homeless: Another Inconvenient Truth

Yesterday evening I ate at the Salvation Army for the first time since hitting Austin some two-plus weeks ago.  A hot dog, a ration of beans, and all the doughnuts you could eat.

The line was long.  A motley assortment of the down and out, men and women in a scraggly line, their few possessions in torn and tattered bags and backpacks, jerry-rigged dollies.  A few were over at the side, lounging on pieces of cardboard.  The heat?  Brutal.

Smoky turned me on to this place.  At 4 PM they open the doors, letting ten in at a time.  Inside, you sign your name to a clipboard, are given a ticket, and proceed up the stairs to the dining hall.  Two liter plastic bottles of soda were on each table, and a man went around replacing them as they were emptied.

We eat hurriedly, almost furtively, and a few minutes later are back out the door to the street.

The Street.

It's the ultimate Sword of Damocles, the ultimate Judge.  We move hither and yon, prodded on by motivations of hunger, ennui, and...movement for the sake of movement. 

And while we're at it, a quick shout-out to LIFT beverage cafe.  The good folks at LIFT have been more than supportive of our efforts to repair this computer, allowing us to use their wifi and electricity as we search for solutions.  THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

I ran into Smiley last night as I sat on the sidewalk chatting with Madame LaBelle.  I was looking for enough change for coffee (42 cents buys Senior Discount coffee at McDonald's with two refills), and Smiley was looking for a bus pass--which I just happened to have.  The exchange was made, to both our satisfactions.  He also had a burrito which he gave me, so the evening ended on the note of a full tummy.

Saw him again this morning at McDonald's.  He passed along the morning paper--which I read--and then wandered off up Barton Springs Road, headed for the "hippie hangout."  The hangout is not all that far away, right by the creek, and you'll find an aggregate of street people hanging out there, playing music, smoking herb, drinking, or what have you.

It's a favorite hotspot for ticketing by the cops.

They come by every day, and it's a rare occurence indeed when they don't issue at least one ticket.  Meteor Mike and his lady friend, Ute, were hit the other day.  Ute had the joint in her hand as the bicycle cops rode up silently.  A couple of others were ticketed for open containers. 

This happens again and again, and no one ever seems to think:  hey, let's post some watchers down the path,some lookouts.  Doesn't happen.  And so the tickets continue to be issued.

I've never seen anyone outrageously drunk or obnoxious down there.  Usually there's not enough alcohol to get a person to that point.  Still, the law is the law. But where can a down-and-outer drink in this town that's legal? Bars are out of the question as they're too expensive.  Can't drink inside one's home because we're all homeless.  Which leaves...

The Street.

It's the same with sleeping.  I am frequently exhausted by the afternoon, but to lie down and sleep in the park is a ticketable offense.  So to catch forty winks, a person has to find some place which is out of sight, safe, and in the shade. 

Smokey just rode up.  He had a good night last night.  He met a college student who laid twenty dollars on him as they parted ways.  So...there is the open heart out there, the compassionate Buddha operating through individuals.

Lovely.

Today I must shower.  Smiley have me one of those tiny hotel bars of soap last night, and I'm guarding it like the Treasure of the Sierra Madre.  Smile.  I will wash out my clothes as best I can, and let them dry on my body.

We are Inconvenient Truths.  The eyes of the world move by us so quickly, dismissing us as irrelevant and somehow in the way.  Understandable.  But sooner or later the robots will be doing nearly everything, and there will be vast hordes of the unemployed.  How will the government respond?

I think of the old Chinese curse:  may you live in interesting times.

Indeed.

Interesting times indeed.

More later.  Smokey hasn't said anything, but he's wanting to download some music.

Till then...much aloha,

Elijah