I rode the bus today, as I do everyday, to and from work. This morning, I noticed that the front seats were all vacant, and the back of the bus was full. I've seen this pattern before, and the reason is always the same. Smelly homeless people. Indeed, there was a man in the very front seat, behind the driver, who smelled disgusting. I sat as far away as I could, but I was still the nearest person to him. He was older, wearing visibly dirty clothes (but fairly new Vans), his fingernails needed clipping badly and were filled with dirt underneath. He carried only a single clear plastic bag that read "Patient Belongings" and still had a hospital bracelet around his wrist. The plastic bag of belongings had just 5 things in it: 3 bottles of prescription pills and 2 pieces of candy. He very politely asked me if I had a quarter. Since I use a bus pass and rarely use cash in general, I did not and told him so. He struggled at one point to open his 3 pill bottles (child proof can also be adult proof in some situations). One lid went flying across the bus, and I picked it up to return it to him. He thanked me, and other people looked at me as if I was crazy to touch something the smelly man had touched. We both got off at the same stop, in front of UCLA Medical Center.
Fast forward to the end of the day, I got on the bus, and the same man was on my return bus. He still smelled. He was still wearing the same stained clothes, and he still carried the same clear plastic bag with medications inside. I have no idea what he had done in Westwood for the day, but none of it seemed to involve anything to improve his current state. He was recently in a hospital, yet it seemed no one helped hook him up with any outside help.
Here's where my political leanings become important. I so desperately wanted to help this man. His mind was clearly not all there based on the way in which he presented himself on the bus - polite, but not fully aware of everything. What it felt like to me was a case of mental illness that left him unable to work, which led to homelessness and an inability to take care of himself on a day to day basis. I wanted to be able to say "hey, let me call someone for you -someone who can take you somewhere to get cleaned up and maybe a home to take care of you since you can't quite make it on your own." But there is no one to call. Nowhere to go.
I do not believe that this should be his destiny because of an inability to care for himself. Sure, there are some people who play more of a part in their current situation - failed to maintain a job because of delinquency, for example. But this was definitely a case of mental illness. And I was so frustrated that there was nowhere I could send him to get help. Why is there no help? Cause we're the land of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. But that assumes you have bootstraps to begin with. If you don't, well, then, tough shit. No one will want to help you because you stink (literally), and you'll go suffering through life until you just finally die. God bless America, indeed.
(More positive side note: this man on the bus reminded me of a program in Eugene, Oregon through White Bird Clinic where the homeless can get a variety of health care treatments, including mental health care and medication. They also take donations to distribute to the homeless. I believe they allow access to facilities for people to clean up, too, which is vital for them to ever get their lives turned around. I have to hope LA has something like this, but I don't know of it. If it exists, I'm sure they're overrun and probably turning people away. We need to do more...)
1 comment:
Ugh, this made me cry. Thank you for helping him, and for caring. It seems there are so few of us that really give a shit about humanity. The rest are too busy pulling their bootstraps out of their asses.
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