199: Homeless and Horseshoes

Part 6 of ?

Horseshoes
The Clang of these will no longer
Ring through the camp.

This image will remain embedded in my mind and remind me of John. As mentioned in the last post I helped carry John's cherished possessions to a place he thought might be safe. Among the items John kept was this set of horseshoes that had been used at Dodge City tent camp.

It seems to me the biggest issue relating to the homeless is we know nothing about them, most consider them a bunch of druggie alcoholic derelicts. So lets meet John. I wanted to use a picture of John but due to my respect for him and his feeling about being homeless, the one image I have of him well remain as a memory for me.

I first met John in November of 2008 when he first came to the camp. Prior to that John had been a cabinet maker. In this day and age of pre-made and ego branded cabinets , the demand for a true cabinet maker is limited. As the construction business faltered his work dried up. He survived for a while on his benefits and savings. When his resources ran out he found himself homeless.

John kept up hope he would go back to work so he kept his essential tools he would need to go to work. These tools bared him from living in a shelter because they could be used a weapons. His only alternatives were to give up hope of getting a job or move to the tent camp. John had hope so the tent camp was his only alternative.

Several months later as the building industry continued to dwindle his son, a carpenter, joined him in the camp until they could get enough money to get him to WV where he could be with family. You might ask why John did not go. According to John the family could only afford to help one and he felt his son should be the one. The one high point of this whole sad eviction affair is as John and I parted company late yesterday he looked at me and said " The longer I know you. the better I like you. You are not one of the typical fly by night do-gooders."

At the beginning of this post I mentioned that John kept his horse shoes. While helping him load his things I noticed another item he brought with him, His Lunch Box. After all this John still has hope.

I must admit this story is not true of all homeless people, but after being around most of the homeless in the area for the past two years it us typical of the group the police targeted. Others has asked, if I was so concerned why I did not open my home to them. I did check and as I have a reverse mortgage (the only thing that keeps me from being homeless) I am prevented from having non-family members living in my home. As I feel that if the police found out they were here, the mortgage company would find out.