Yesterday, I met with a friend in downtown Raleigh for lunch. I hadn’t been downtown (or beyond the borders of my suburban enclave) for months. Driving through the commercial districts and then visiting the city center always have an impact on me.
This time, it was the homeless people. At major intersections on the way to town, I saw several homeless people stationed on the islands soliciting for money. That’s common. I’ve seen it for years.
One particular dude, who I actually recognized stood out. He was clearly deranged. He was a 20-something, shirtless white guy with long scraggly hair. In better days, he might have looked like a hipster surfer. Yesterday was not better days. He looked like he had escaped from a mental institution. His movements were twitchy. His eyes were not focused. His head should and his body had tumors. He looked dangerous. He reminded me of meth heads who I occasionally ran into at AA meeting who were obviously in bad shape, using and behaving erratically. He also had what I refer to as “crazy eyes”. You know the kind – when someone is psychotic or manic and has this bugged out stare that precipitates a violent outburst. I happened to be idling at the red light next to him for a few minutes, but he was so out of it, he never even came over to bang on my window.
The second person who caught my eye was a woman we passed when walking through town after lunch. She too was a white lady and had long scraggly dreadlocky looking hair. She was dragging a wheeled suitcase behind her. She staggered towards us on the sidewalk, landing precariously and swaying from side to side. I fully expected her to ask us for money when we passed by, but she was so out of her head that she too seemed not to even notice us. I noticed her face though – she too has the shrunken, tooth rotting, meth addict look with unfocused crazy eyes.
I saw at least a dozen other homeless people that day in various stages of duress. Some were perched in lawn chairs holding “God Bless” cardboard signs at intersections. Some were taking a break from begging lounging near the bushes with trash and belongings piled around them. Some were wandering the streets downtown peering into storefronts.
Homeless people, drunks, drug addicts and mentally ill street people are nothing new to me. I’ve been exposed to them ever since I first moved to Pittsburgh back in 1976.
There seem to be a lot more now, than then.
Sometimes I feel angry when panhandlers are aggressive and confrontational with me. In San Francisco, when I attended conferences 10 years ago, I couldn’t stand still at any corner without multiple people getting in my face asking for money, cigarettes or drugs.
In Raleigh, the most that I’ve experienced is the “intersection perches” staring into my car window, while completely high asking for money.
In Miami, I avoided the worst areas because people were literally shooting up and laying on the sidewalks around the stadium and downtown areas.
In Pittsburgh, it varied. Sometimes I only saw a few homeless people. Other times, it was like a “Walking Dead” horde in downtown.
I know there are news reports and videos of “out of control” homeless camps, tent villages, crime and living in cities today. I’ve watched some of these. It’s awful.
It’s not like that here in Raleigh. Yet.
Or if it is, I’ve just not traveled through those areas – which is a strong possibility.
I don’t have a proposed solution for this. The problem, when I look into people’s faces, seems to include mental illness, drug addiction and I’d suspect, poverty.
I’ve read many papers and listened to hundreds of experts on podcasts discuss the problem and suggest remedies.
I don’t know what works and what doesn’t so I’ll keep my opinions on this to myself.
It is sad to see people in this condition.
I would be horrified if someone I loved (or once loved, or even cared about) was living like this.
Seeing the man and woman I wrote about at the beginning of this post didn’t’t make me feel revulsion or anger. It made me feel pity for them.
So the thought in my head is, “And what are you going to do about it?”
I don’t know. Probably nothing.