Twenty years ago I moved to an East Coastal American city and had to leave a lot behind. I took a room at a boarding house and spent as little an amount of time there as I could. My housemates were derelicts and one step from the gutter. I ended up living at the local YMCA and spending much of my free time at the library. I learned who were the real homeless in town pretty quick just from seeing them all the time. It was an open secret the big municipal area dumped their bums on the local trains and sent them out to the suburbs. You didn't want to linger at the train stations back then because the bums would hit you up for money.
I came out of weighing a lot less and with an appreciation for survival skills. Nothing makes you appreciate normal living better than walking through a snow storm in January in hopes your one local friend will be home and you'll have someone to hang with.
I'm still filled with an inner rage against people who hit me up for money on the street. I'll buy them food, but they get a lecture on how a man should never sink so low he'll have to beg. I think the Sikh's have it right. They are forced to wear a band around one wrist to drive home the notion you should never beg for your food (with cupped hands, everyone will see the metal band).
I've thought about doing the Indian wandering Sadhu thing if I ever get to the point I just don't care any more. With my age and lack of responsibilities, there are days when I'm ready to grab a staff and just go out on the road. So this thread is most instructive.
I came out of weighing a lot less and with an appreciation for survival skills. Nothing makes you appreciate normal living better than walking through a snow storm in January in hopes your one local friend will be home and you'll have someone to hang with.
I'm still filled with an inner rage against people who hit me up for money on the street. I'll buy them food, but they get a lecture on how a man should never sink so low he'll have to beg. I think the Sikh's have it right. They are forced to wear a band around one wrist to drive home the notion you should never beg for your food (with cupped hands, everyone will see the metal band).
I've thought about doing the Indian wandering Sadhu thing if I ever get to the point I just don't care any more. With my age and lack of responsibilities, there are days when I'm ready to grab a staff and just go out on the road. So this thread is most instructive.