Quote: (09-16-2014 07:50 AM)Beyond Borders Wrote:
Class video.
While he's got admirable traits, though, this guy is a trainwreck and does not have a bright future ahead of him, no matter what you consider a bright future to be. I winced when he said he could probably be off the streets in a week but that being sober for a week was impossible when homeless.
If it got you off the streets? Fuck...That's some gnarly addiction talking, and what he says is true. The experts will tell you that people who don't want to be on the streets do not stay there long. It's the booze and drugs, or mental illness for some, that keeps most there. We were homeless for a time when growing up, and my mom was towing three kids behind. A week or two was indeed all it took with some determination and sobriety.
It was also painful at the end when he said he wouldn't advise any people follow in his footsteps. I'm all for alternative lifestyles and actually find people who live by their own rules really intriguing, but you could see in his eyes that real reason he said that is because he's miserable and is just in denial about it.
Doesn't defeat the message, but still.
Whether this video accurately depicts this guy's situation or NOT there appears to be a few attributes that are out of place and makes this guy the far exception of homelessness rather than a reflection of any wide-spread phenomenon.
Yes, his physical appearance and attributes demonstrates that his homelessness is in the very earliest of stages, and likely the longer that he is on tthe street, the more deterioration that there is going to be in his physical health, his mental health and his presentation of himself.
Currently, he seems to be describing his situation and his daily activities as a form of liberation - that when he gets up each day that he "can do whatever the fuck that he wants," but even weaved within this positive statement is the idea that others should NOT try this and others cannot pull this off.
Maybe also he can "pull this off" in NYC because for some reason he has found a niche and there are enough people willing to give him money (at least under the current situation) in order that he can eat "fairly well."
In the end, many of us seem to agree that he is NOT going to be able to keep up this gig for very long (and maybe even agree that there is some wasted talent, here). If he does NOT come up with a plan to get himself out of his current situation, then this cat is going to develop considerable regrets in the coming years.
Also, by the way,as we know, the street can be very rough, I remember seeing this very handsome and well built young (in his mid-20s) black guy in the streets of west LA. Then one day he is wearing bandages and he got really fucked up over some trivial altercations. I continued to see him on the streets for years and years after his beat down, and he was never really the same after that in terms of appearance and energy. It is even possible that some of the good looking and in shape homeless people may get targeted (once they are known) by some haters for some hater beat down.... maybe to teach them a lesson regarding what it really means to "have to be" on the streets.