Have you ever sat down beside a homeless person just to chat?

Today I made a new friend, I sat down beside a homeless man and chatted with him for about 20 minutes. He turned out to be just a regular old man who was raised in the country on a farm. I did not ask him where he lived or how he came to be homeless. I talked to him as though I would talk to anyone else and in the same mannerisms.
He told me that he was about 15 years older than me, he looked just like a good ole country boy, err man. Although twice within our conversation I made him laugh and he did a loud YEEHAA. That put a grin on my face as I looked around to see if anyone looked. I realized, so what if they do, I'm having a good time with my new friend. It is people like this that make our world a better place to live in. When you meet someone that is original and unhurried in a world that is being destroyed little by little it makes you slow down and realize just how precious life can be.

I did however ask him if he ever seen any UFO's in his lifetime. He told me that he has never seen any here but, that he seen them all the time in Memphis, TN. He talked to me about their fast movements as he waved his hands in the very gesture that they would move. He said that he would sit by the river and look up at night sky and see them moving all about. He said yeah, they are up there but, He don't think they will ever come down and said if they do he wants them to take him up with them. He said they are interesting and then he yelled out YAHOOO. He got pretty excited talking about it. lol

He also said that the one thing he loves to do is watch the snow come down, he thinks that is the beautifulest thing and I said I agree. I told him that snow meant a purity was falling over the land and snow is beautiful.

I told him that I was going to make him a homemade meal of some sort and I got up and said I will see him tomorrow.

My soul felt good for some reason afterward just knowing that I talked with him, I don't know why. But, he is my new friend and I will see him again, hopefully everyday.

That's a nice story. The ones I see here spit and curse, not going to sit down next to them.

Sort of.. I use to go to my uncles to play pool. For some reason I may never know, he had a few homeless friends.. they were always nice guys who liked to play pool, and drink some beers. They seemed to really appreciate the company.. and yes they drank but I never seen any of them drunk.

reply to post by Garfee


Same here. Or tell you the pizza you just gave them it's too cold.
I love hearing about the journey of other people, the story of their lives. But when you try to reach a hand and hear about how they don't want to work because they can make more in the corner in a few hours than they would in a whole day, or that they have a house.....I'm sure you see why I wouldn't try to speak to the homeless anymore.
Send your guy this way!

reply to post by mustangill


Wow, that story shaken my soul, indeed. At the very beginning you wrote: "Today I made a new friend". This few words are worthy to wake up every morning, very inspiring. Thanks for sharing! Oh, and the part about snow falling... Aw, so sweet Thanks again!

I was walking down the sidewalk downtown a couple years ago, and a homeless man sitting on a step pointed out to me that my shoe was untied. I sat down next to him to tie and ended up staying there 15-20ish minutes just talking.

He was from Louisiana, and one of 8 kids - pretty big family. Don't remember much of what the rest of the conversation entailed... But he wasn't some loonybin crazy man which most people think these homeless men are. I, like the OP, did not ask him how he came about being homeless, and he didn't say.

Something that definitely stuck with me from that encounter was that he never asked for any money or anything. Just wanted to make sure that I tied my shoe, and somehow a pretty long conversation came out of that.

It was definitely a refreshing encounter - one which I feel I can relate with the OP

reply to post by mustangill

Good for you, good for him and good for humanity mustangill
Man, judgement creates such strong barriers at times, disconnecting us from each other and inhibiting any sharing of valuable perspective, camaraderie or just plain ole' kindness. I think that one of the worst feelings a human can experience is worthlessness. Hopefully your story may encourage a few others to do the same, and while all the results may differ, someone may actually shine enough light into another's heart to make a genuine difference.

Peace,
spec

Nice thread topic op ...look forward to hearing about the dinner you cook for him...

Awesome story! I never liked the stigma homeless people carry simply for being homeless. (Broad generalizations period are a huge pet peeve of mine). Regardless of what someone thinks is the reason for their situation; they are human beings..and deserve to be respected. I can't give you enough stars, OP. I look forward to reading some updates about your new friendship

It's kind of interesting how you dodged the whole "homeless" bit as it seems quite apparent to you, and steered the conversation to UFO's. The guy must have been open to anything. You might learn a bit about how to run a government if you asked him too. I found that just because they're homeless doesn't mean they aren't wise, they just lived a story different than yours. Ask about his political views, I got into talk with a homeless man once about that, he offered an interesting perspective.

Of course! Where I go to college, the homeless population is kinda high and so I see plenty of them. Most of them are sketch but there are some I have talked to and have learned some cool things; things that will keep me from going homeless. The ones I have talked to have very insightful messages to ring across.

If I got a homeless man a computer, I'd tell him to make an ATS account and let him post his insight. He would deserve thousands of S&F's!

reply to post by mustangill
Ive done the same and its about 50/50.
Some want to fight/drink and kill you,and others are genuine, allways glad to have chat and tell a tale or two.
some believeable some not,
I like to chat to them.Because One Day It Could Be Me?

Yeah, I have talked to a few over the years.

For various reasons. Some nice, some not so nice, Some sane, some not so sane, but they are just people.

A lot of people tend to treat homeless people like a wild animal in a zoo... Should we be scared of it? What if it comes up to us? What will people think?

They are human beings just like you and me.... The only difference is, at the end of the day, we have a roof over our head.... Simple as that.

Maybe if more people knew that, there would not be such a problem with homelessness.

reply to post by gimme_some_truth


couldn't agree more,

I have met a few here and there, chatted with them, handed out clothes, food, etc. a while back when i was more active with the peace movement.

a lot of them, if not most are kind, caring people who have fallen into and onto hard times. some suffer frg addiction, alcoholism, and other isms, but it doesn't remove the fact that they aren't people like you and I. Its very interesting to hear their story.

S&F to this thread.... and star for you GST.

I used to go to the bottle depot and give my empties to the homeless folks that were hanging around outside.

I have found that a variety of them have mental problems, but, the ones that don't have very tragic stories in their past and have had some pretty horrible things happen to them. I talked to lady once who's children had died in a car accident and her downward spiral started from there. Who could blame her?

They are people in the end, just like us, that probably didn't have the breaks and opportunities that many of us take for granted.

Yes. I got one guy a job where I work. He worked for us for a year.
He had been sleeping in the woods behind a Kmart. I saw him on a regular basis and always stopped to talk to him. I talked him into getting a bed at the salvation Army. This gave him a temporary address. Once he had a temp address and cleaned himself up, I hired him part time. He turned out to be a good worker. He started out sweeping the floors but ended up working the sandblaster. He eventually got himself a little apartment. Everything was going good for a while. Then his old habits resurfaced and he disappeared for a week or two without any notice. Finally he just stopped showing up for work. He lost his apartment and ended up back in the woods. I have no idea where he is now.

This guy was smart, but had issues that were beyond my ability to fix.

Cool. Yes I have made friends with a homeless man and we ended up hanging out a bit. He ended up finding some couches to sleep on eventually and i have no idea where he is now. He had a guitar he carried everywhere. He was under 30.

When I lived in Vancouver, I worked downtown for a bit and would go on walks during my lunch break. For some reason I felt compelled to give my leftover lunch to this ancient looking vietnamese man. Everyday he would sit on a little square of newspaper on the sidewalk, didn't both anybody. Couldn't even speak a word of English. For a few days I would bring him my leftover chinese food, I usually just left most of it for him because the portion was so huge. He would get so happy when he saw me coming and smile with a huge toothless grin and he would gobble up the food I gave him. The streets were always busy but I didn't care who saw me. I still think about that old man and hope he is well, somehow.

This is a really great story. Please do keep us up to date on what happens next. I applaud your willingness to treat someone that society deems as negative as someone not unlike the rest of us. I do not have many homeless people in my area, but while traveling I always try to go out of my way to speak with someone who is homeless and/or help them if I can.

I've never sat down next to a homeless person just to chat, mostly because it doesn't seem to me like it would end up being a pleasant experience. But I'm so glad that you ended up having one, and that is a remarkable story!

I have seen a number of people chatting with homeless people, however, usually when the homeless person asks for a cigarette, and the two end up smoking together and having a nice chat. Seeing the two's faces enjoying their time makes me really happy, but personally, it's not in my personality to just walk up to a random stranger and strike up a conversation, so I don't do that.

I have, however, met a homeless person who asked if I could buy him some food because he hadn't eaten all day, and he was about to eat some food that was thrown in the garbage, but he couldn't stomach the thought and threw it back away. So I told him sure, and I bought him a sandwich from a Vietnamese sandwich restaurant. His eyes lit up, like you wouldn't believe, he was so surprised by the simple fact that I even said anything to him. Then he started telling me that nobody would look at him or talk to him, and how miserable he's been because everyone would ignore him. Later when we were eating our dinner, he told me about how he became homeless and how he was looking for a job and nobody would give him the opportunity. I later saw him a month or two later, and he looked still homeless, he actually came into a pizza place, and asked if they were hiring, and they told him they weren't and were curt with him, then he was curt back. I was about to say something to him, but he wouldn't make eye contact with me, so either he didn't recognize me, or he was too embarrassed to talk to me. So I ended up not saying anything to him then. But back to that night I did help him, I felt really good afterwards. I mean, it's really nice to help other people.

Great story!

I have stopped and spoken to several. In-fact I have sought out some souls that are just doing their thing, stopped my vehicle ahead of them and waited for them to walk by.

I simply ask "How are you? Got some change if you need it."

We speak about what ever. I have not come across a negative soul yet in doing this...Law of Attraction.

One time on the PHX light rail, there was a very skinny man sleeping away staying out of the heat. I just noticed this Human Being surviving as best he could.

As my daughter and I were nearing our stop I reached over the seat tapped his shoulder and asked, "You doing OK my friend"?

We spoke for a bit about what a hard place this is, and how he needs to get out of here. There was no LOVE. It was almost like he was not talking about PHX AZ...rather EARTH!

I gave him a five and said take care of your self, "get a good meal".

He goes, "why because I am so skinny"?

My daughter and I get off the light rail and I look to see the guy again...

He is gone, not on the train nor in the station. Just gone.

OP thanks for sharing.

Regards and Nameste,

-Chung