Thursday, July 23, 2009

One man's "home"

Driving up an alley in South Dallas adjacent to a piece of property we're interested in acquiring for expansion purposes, I passed by what I've tried to capture on my phone's camera.

What does this look like to you?

A pile of junk?

The result of a clean up project inside the store behind which this was "piled up"?

No.

This collection of discards will serve as someone's home tonight.

Neatly arranged with old sofa cushions strategically positioned for optimum comfort on the hard concrete pavement beneath, someone has "built" a home out of basically all of the possessions available.

When I passed by, the tenant of this home was likely at "work."

I had to capture it to pass along. The second photo reveals that everything depends on being positioned up against the wall to the back side.


When I climb into bed tonight, a neighbor of mine will climb into this space and regard it as home, the only home available.

I'll offer up a prayer for mercy on behalf of this unknown friend and on my own behalf as well.

We can't go on like this.




2 comments:

Karen Shafer said...

There are thousands of people living like this across the city. If people believe the problem of homelessness has been solved by The Bridge, they are very, very wrong.

And giving people tickets and warrants for 'sleeping in public,' 'obstructing the sidewalk,' and 'littering' [their homes are called 'litter'] and sending them to jail for the crime of being homeless doesn't make them disappear. It happens all the time, every single day in Dallas.

Anonymous said...

What? The cops haven't bulldozed this yet? (Or put it in a dumpster, in this case. His clock is ticking, and this guy who at least has a "bed" will lose everything he owns, again.