His clothes are tattered and torn,
His appearance unkempt and disheveled.
He walks the streets looking for places past
While inner voices are all that keep him company.
His prized possessions are with him,
Haphazardly tossed into a maltreated pillow-case
And proudly thrown across his back.
He approaches me with determination and I shrink hesitantly,
Not sure of his needs or wants.
He appears calm, although his eyes are vacant and frenzied.
His conversation is incoherent, his story begins somewhere in the middle.
To no avail, I try to put pieces together to attempt to understand.
Unexpectedly, he goes off on an angry tangent,
And I wonder about and fear for my safety.
We spend the better part of an hour together,
He rambling incessantly, and occasionally wanting me to speak briefly.
I remain clueless as to the subject of the exchange,
But he has a captive audience and is very pleased.
As quickly as it began, it ends, and he walks away happy
While I stare after him in shocked amazement,
Marveling at the complexities of the human mind.
This is the story of my first experience with a schizophrenic
who was not taking his medication. It happened shortly after I opened the day time drop in center for the homeless. I was not a very street wise person at that time, but believe you me, I learned, and I learned fast. Gang colors? I knew 'em. How they rolled up one sleeve...I knew...and which one. Drug paraphernalia? I recognized it. I used to tell people I now had friends in "low" places. The local police knew my hours of operation. They also knew me by name and sight. They knew my car. They came quickly if I called. I was known throughout the entire community, as an advocate for the homeless and the program I co-ran. The time I spent with the drop in center was good for me and for them. I fed them on Sunday, because there were no other soup kitchens or places for them to eat. I have cooked more red beans and rice than you imagine. Once the local homeless program became a 24/7 deal, I transitioned into it as case manager and supervisor. Things changed then, and I was no longer just in a position of being a friend to the homeless. Our program no longer became just a band-aid program, it began to motivate the homeless to finish their education and get back into the mainstream of life. I helped them find apartments. I organized daily classes for them. I helped their kids get back into school. I also had more responsibility. I worked with the local churches who came nightly and brought food for the homeless. I coordinated their efforts and oversaw their volunteering positions. I also became responsible for every ones safety. Each night there was from 60-125 people who came into the shelter. There were many children. If a homeless person came to the door intoxicated or high, I refused them admittance into the program for the night. I had to physically frisk those who were admitted (until I was granted a male security guard.) I had to search their purses and pockets. Oh...a snubbed off straw....and glazed eyeballs...well...sorry...you cannot come in tonight. I made some very difficult and unpopular decisions nightly.
There were those in the program who were there through no fault of their own, but for the most part, the ones I became familiar with were there of their own choosing, because their priority was not feeding and clothing their children or themselves, it was elsewhere. They came there for the free food, clothes and a place to crash. Several of my unpopular decisions got me some bodily harm. Once a large female participant threw a full garbage can at me and slammed me into the wall. Another time a female got angry because I refused her admittance into the program for the night, and she hurled a brick at me and broke the fingers on my left hand, plus totally rearranged my wedding rings as a result of the brick hitting me. Another time a knife got slipped into the shelter and hidden under a washing machine...it was supposed to be used on me that night but our maintenance man found it and came to me with it. So, it was not always fun and games.
On the flip side of all that was the opportunity to get someone back on the straight and narrow. Helping some get their life back in place made it all worth while. The volunteers were great to work with. The community was generous to the shelter. Social Services went out of their way to help me get participants back on their feet. I connected abused females up with a safe house for them and their children. I know I did a lot of good there. Most of the homeless liked me, but as you can see, some did not. I also worked with the "nearly" homeless, sending them food the shelter did not need right then, blankets and jackets for their kids when the weather got chilly, and vouchers for shoes for their feet. It was such a rewarding job....despite it all. I arranged for Santa to come to the shelter, and we had parties. One of my "dumber" moments was standing up on a dining room table one night in the middle of the crowd and announcing to the participants that their "mother did not live there, and to clean up the messes they left on the tables." I had some fun times and some scary moments. Would I do it again? In a minute. (Would my husband let me? NO!) I would just go into it with a different attitude.
I will answer any questions you might have about all this...I could talk about this job forever...as well as the one in the ER, in the same community.
Wandering...I'm now wanting to learn from you how you make your starter for sourdough bread. I would so like to begin again here in South Africa. Pretty please? And now after reading your really interesting entry above, I'm wondering how you actually began your effort to help the homeless? What advice would you give to help this girl face so many homeless escaping Zimbabwe, seeking a new life without a penny in their pocket.
I'm glad you lived through your above experiences so that we could be "friends" now. My hats off to you for being there for those who truly need and want help.
What would be different about your attitude?
Why was standing on a table and saying their mother didn't live there a bad idea?
What did most of the homeless find most helpful?
Fascinating story!
I love this time of year too. I love carmel apples. Is that the same thing? I am more likely to have tart apple slices and carmel dip made with melted carmels and cream cheese. yummy
1. I am basically a very shy person. I do fine in a one on one situation, but put me in a crowd and I clam up and wish I could fall through the cracks. I work on that constantly.
2. I was once a true "Smurfette." I had developed a UTI while on a camping trip and the hospital issued a script for generic Pyridium. The taking of the generic caused my skin to turn blue! I called my regular Dr. when I got home and was instructed to go in immediately. She actually laughed at me! My hubby dubbed me "Smurfette" and he laughed also. No more generics for me!
3. I will not eat hard boiled egg whites unless they are shredded finely. As a child growing up I had a brother who would not eat the yellow of an egg, so we made a great team and there was no waste. Nor will I eat fungus. No mushrooms for me. I am a tea totaler...no coffee for me, thank you anyway!
4. I was baptized by my father on a Friday night. My parents were doing a Bible study with a woman and she decided she wanted to be baptized. That night my dad had the honor of baptizing us both. What a great thing for both of us to remember.
5. I am a bookworm. While growing up I lived in an area where the houses were so close together that I could read by the light from the house next door. I had to be ever so quiet, as my mother had extremely excellent hearing. I did not want to be heard turning the pages of another Nancy Drew mystery! Thank goodness for weekly trips to the library!!!
6. I do not like the spotlight on me. I prefer to do things anonymously and to be in the background. There is one exception to that...when it is my birthday. I am still a little kid at heart when it comes to that!
7. I am a wanna be nurse. During my senior year of HS I was accepted into a nursing program. I wanted to live at the school so I could strictly concentrate on my studies instead of doing household chores all the time. My father would not pay for my schooling or allow me to work in a contagious disease ward, a requirement at the time. Needless to say, my nurses training fell to the wayside.
8. During HS I worked in a bakery at the counter and did the register. After HS I worked for AT&T as a secretary. After I married I went into the dental field, became an oral surgeon's assistant and later worked in a dental office as the chairside assistant and did the lab work. After our kids were older, I opened a daytime drop in center for the homeless. That led to my becoming supervisor and case manager at a local 24/7 shelter. I could talk about that job forever! The last work I did was in a local hospital in Triage. I was the first one they came to when they came through the ER doors. I have lots of stories about that job also. I have also worked a local Crisis Line as a suicide prevention specialist.
My ginger - I just read your "bug" account below and am catching up on posts. wow. That just gives me the creeps! I'm so glad my Mr. "B" is the yellow jacket person - he won't let me touch them because I react to their stinging.
Go to a natural foods store and buy either som Umka or just some Elderberry extract. It is a natural antiviral. It is God's gift to us. It will cut down the time of a cold by half at least and if you take it early enough it can just kill it.
Why do you insist on calling me that? If you really want to vote for a Hoot, then go ahead. I won't stop you. But I don't think there are any Hoots running this year.
What a trip we had! I will count it among our best this year, starting off with the fact that it was at my favorite campground. Our campsite was perfect; spacious and secluded, right beside a babbling brook, the flowers in the hedges smelling sweet, and a distant train whistle could be heard every so often. How quiet and peaceful it was (until Saturday, when it really began to fill up in our area...) So, for most of the trip, we had a whole loop to ourselves. I took along my MP3 player, loaded with hymns, did my 10,000 steps while listening and singing to my hearts content. My path was strewn with crispy, freshly fallen, beautifully colored leaves. What could be better? Anyway, when it came to the songs "Exalted" and "I Am The Way," I was compelled to sit on the closest picnic table so I could sing the songs aloud and do them justice. It was an awesome experience.
I had prepared potato salad, macaroni salad, chicken salad, shredded cabbage for cole slaw, and made a cake all at home, so my time was not spent cooking and cleaning. That alone was a welcomed break. We had dinner by rope light at the Babbling Brook Inn. (AKA, our campsite.) We did some joy riding and sight seeing and toured an old train car which had been converted into a museum. We played ladder ball and bean bag game, Dominoes, Rummy, Rush Hour, our usual Skip-Bo, and worked Sudoku puzzles. It was a nice blend of relaxing and activity, complete with a trip to my favorite flea market.
One very bizarre thing happened. I had an up close and personal encounter with a new type of flying bug which we had never seen before. Friday we were sitting outside and just relaxing under the canopy when I felt something land in my hair. It just seemed a minor annoyance and I raked my fingers through my hair to make sure the bug had moved on. About 5 minutes later I felt something crawl into my ear canal !!! and it began to attempt to flap its wings INSIDE MY HEAD and it began biting me. I jumped out of my chair and screamed to my husband that there was a bug in my ear, biting/stinging me. He finally got me (pushed, actually) inside out unit and got a flashlight and looked into my ear only to see NOTHING! This rascal had already crawled back so far that it was totally out of sight. All this time I am crying and hollering because this thing is in the buzzing and biting me. I am here to tell you, it HURT! At one point I thought I was going to vomit, it was so bad. Each time that thing would buzz and flip its wings, I would clamp my hand over my ear and cry out. I pretty much freaked. My hubby finally got me to let go, pulled my ear out and then the bug was able to back himself out of there. He got the bug and tossed it outside. Much later, we went and looked at it. It was the size of a hornet or yellow jacket, only it was black. We were informed by the campground host that they eat flies. The next day we were paid a visit by campground security. They tried to identify the bug, but were unable to either. It was a big, ugly thing.
I cried for a good while before I could settle down. I thought I was going to faint a few times. It was about an hour before my body returned to "normal." My husband examined the bug and said he did not think that any of it was left inside my ear, so we did not go to the ER or anything. (Besides, we still owe about $8k on his hand...) Needless to say, I was not a lot of fun the rest of that day. I do not know how many times that thing bit me, but inside my ear canal was bloody and it still hurts today. I have used some antiseptic and rubbed some pain killer into my ear and it still aches. It was a very frightening experience and one I do not care to repeat. My hubby offered to bring me home after that, but I chose to stay.
I have had some really weird experiences in my life. This one ranks WAY up high on the list. Ear muffs, anyone???
Did I forget to mention that I was in Harley Heaven??? There was some type of rally in the town we were close to, and there were Harley's and Gold Wings everywhere. Hard to take when you cannot be riding on one yourself!!!
Sounds like a good movie for fright night. I actually sat here going oooh owwww ooooh. That sounds absolutely horrible. I think I would still go to the Dr. You don't want to mess around with your hearing. At least if you can ask around and find out if it could be dangerous. I was really enjoying your camping trip till you got to the scary part. We leave next week for our camping trip. I'm going to wear hats when I go out at night. eeeeew. I'll have nightmares tonight. Hope you do O.K.
Bizarre is a mild word for that nightmarish experience!! I'm like Shirley, I squirmed through reading this. When you said your husband got a flashlight, I thought "Yay!" because that's how I got a bug out of my first husband's ear once. Bugs crawl to the light. But when you said it STILL didn't come out, I just kept on cringing!!!
I think you should let a doctor at least look in your ear, too. Otherwise, it sounds like a wonderful and relaxing trip!
Oh my, I'm so sorry about your bug incident! I DO NOT LIKE bugs...I'm afraid I would have really gone crazy! I've been trying to remmeber WHO on pleo was walking and COUNTING steps...now I know! I just got me a really nice pedometer...and have enjoyed keeping up with "my steps" tho, I've not made it past 8,543 yet! GOOD JOB on the 10,000 a day!
The bug incident is horrifying to me. I feel terrible for you. I reckon you're traumatized for the rest of your life. I had a little field mouse, run out of a campfire and up my pantleg when I was a teenager, and I've never been the same.
I'm impressed with the hymn singing. I am always sort of anxious about my mp3 player, because I get a false sense of security and fear that they will kick me out of the gym or I will be reported to the police as a suspicious person, due to my "singing along". Of course, my voice is awful. LOL Seriously, I remember several years ago, hiking at Hocking Hills and hearing this lovely singing, and it was a group of women who stopped at one of the "caves" and was singing Our God He is Alive. It was LOVELY.
The bug had crawled forward into my ear, and then backed out finally, not sure if it even saw the light from the flashlight...it came out in its entirety...so do not think there is anything left in there...besides the hurt. It is still bothering me today.
It's funny about the singing...the exception to singing is when we put a ONE VOICE cd in and sing along to hymns in the car. My girls will ask to drive around the block a couple more songs, while we belt it out.
I told everybody at the chiropractors about the bug story and they didn't believe me. I finally convinced them it was true and they were all going eewww. I may wear a toboggan camping next week. Think that would be awise decision? I do. :-)
That kind of story is one that my daughters would cite as a reason why not to go camping. I think we might have left for town after that one. Hope you get to feeling better real soon!
I've lost my voice so I don't sing as much anymore as I used to....I'm so glad you had the music with you to enjoy and sing with
I remember always the incident at our house when a moth crawled inside my mother's ear and it was so horrible my Dad finally took her to the ER where they flushed her ear out. But the moth didn't sting or poke her, just fluttering. I really think you should check w/ your doctor...at least call them and ask about it. :(
Thank you for the "lesson" on pleonast, glad you all are very patient as I learn this, you are on my friends list, thank you for sharing your life, wow what a scary thing to happen that a bug would go into the ear canal, I would have been screaming and crying too, glad you are all right, I am a big baby about bug anyway
Ok, I thought I had you on my friends list, my daughter usually helps me add the friends, how do I do that, I always talk to you, so I thought I had you on the friends, list, Help again!
The whole time I was reading about your bug disaster I was squirming around like that thing was in MY ear! Oh you poor thing! How HORRIBLE!! That would've scared me to death! I'm just glad the stupid thing finally crawled back OUT. Goodness. I'm so sorry you had to go through that, but I'm glad you didn't go home and you were able to enjoy the rest of your trip. It sure sounds wonderful! I look forward to going camping again. We really enjoyed our trip last summer.
I am doing ok, been dealing with more headaches than usual the last few days. I'm not sure why. Sometimes it just happens that way when my pressure is up in my head. I am ready to see my neurologist to get more answers, hopefully!
