I mentioned on Sunday that the christmas family came by and handed out goodies.

After chatting with the men I got to chat with the wife and daughter a bit more (and got to show off my new chemistry textbook to the young daughter child, she was suitably impressed and I was happy) while the husband went into the grocery store.

She mentioned that she’d asked Dave what he wanted and/or needed and that Dave had said (my paraphrasing) “give Rachel what she needs, she can go somewhere, she needs to get out of here”.
I was, and still am, unable to describe what this meant to me. Homeless people aren’t known for being generous, though they frequently share within their own group. But still, Dave is, I guess… If one were to have a mentor for living on the fringes, Dave is my mentor. He never laughs AT me, well.. maybe he does but I can’t tell because usually I’m laughing too. Let’s say that I’ve never been hurt by his laughter or felt less than because of it. Dave clues me in to the codes that I don’t know, explains things that happen that I can’t figure out on my own, and shows me how to deal with the people that come by, both the helpful and the non-helpful.

But this has brought up again in my mind, what happens to people that don’t find a good group to be a part of. And how long can a person live on the fringes before they slip into the brush completely?

I know how easy it would be to drop out completely. If I didn’t love school and learning so much I would already be gone. It’s only school that requires me to stay presentable, stay sociable, stay connected with people in the “real” world.
And its only you people that have given me the financial means to stay connected.

What happens to be people that have the misfortune to start out downtown? Or don’t have access to computers and libraries or the knowledge of how to use them? What happens to the ones that get abused by other homeless instead of mentored? And the ones that have everything stolen from them instead of given?

I know my days get dark sometimes, and I know that I have times that I need to hide until I can face the everything that is the world, but I do know, even during the times I can’t believe it, that I have been, and continue to be, very fortunate.