Stories should be respected

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        “Hopeless” “despair” “lost”, those words may come out when we think about homelessness. Homelessness varies, some of them even choose to be homeless.

 

        After interviewing about 20 homeless people in Gainesville, a story from this guys impressed me a lot. He is homeless, but he’s not at the same time. He chooses to be homeless, he didn’t feel shame about being homeless.

 

        When everyone else is sitting on the street and begging for food and coins, one man seems to be taking his time. Instead of asking money from passersby, he was leisurely playing with his radio.

 

        “I don’t want to go shelter, it’s boring,” the man says as I start a small talk with him, “and I like to sit here, listening to my radio, and seeing people. I don’t really care.”

 

        I used to be an engineer, but before 9/11, when the economy began to collapsed，I was on the decline. That was a bad time at the end of August in 2001 when my company said they couldn’t pay us. So I left. My uncle was a law professor, so he tries to help me to become a lawyer, but you know, it’s impossible. I know it sounds crazy, and sucks, too, but then I left again. At that time my dad was building a house here, so I came here to help him and to figure out what I want to do next. But what I want to do is go back to school. I like to build something. I had a bicycle and I call it “monster”, and I built it by myself. Well, the saddest thing by far-- it was a year and a half ago, when my dog, Leo, died on Valentine’s Day. He was ten years old. He had problems before, but we don’t know exactly what is it that killed him. He hadn’t eaten for 10 days, and I tried everything to get him eat. And on that day, I called my cousin and asked if there was anything else I could try, and she said no. And at last he died in my arms, I think that was the saddest day of my life. You should’ve noticed my T-shirt. It’s part of my story. I often take Leo to park; I love him and I also miss him. I’m sad, even up now.

 

        “I don’t care what people say about me, I got nothing to worry about, maybe one day I can go back to school and be a teacher, who knows?”

 

        I was shocked because of this interview, and I cannot imagine what stories other homelessness may have. We must admit that homeless people like him are still in minority, but one thing we should know is that every homeless people has their own story, and every story should be respected.

 

        Finding more stories about homelessness, then we can build trust, offer love and make a difference.