![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Sep. 18th, 2013 10:33 pmA friend from the nidge is now apparently homeless. The same person that I wrote about before (he had stayed at my house). He went from place to place to place over a month or so, never for very long. If you look at where he stayed over the past year or so, his tenure at each place grew shorter and shorter. Trying to fight off homelessness . . . it is weird to see the arc of it like that.
A group of us got together at a cafe last saturday to see what all we could do. Some people have let him stay at their place, others aren't really willing to, and some just lament some of the choices (and lack thereof) that got him here. The concensus seemed to be that we'd all be willing to chip-in on anything like clothes for an interview, money for a security deposit, and other things like that . . . people weren't willing to have him stay at their place for longer times. We also know how prideful he can be about things, and so we would be willing to offer help in researching support resources for him if he wanted help with that (he had gotten upset at people who mentioned various community resources because he said it insulted him - that mentioning of these things inferred that he hadn't looked them up before). How were they to know? Why not just say, "Thanks - I have tried those, and it didn't work out."? That would be fine to say.
While the attitude he showed wasn't so endearing, we also think that he's just battling depression. When you see things like this . . . sometimes it's like the person who is talking isn't really the person, it's the depression. So it makes it easier to somehow to let things like that roll off your back.
There was one of us who was there that seemed to still be particularly trusted by our now homeless friend. He agreed that he would send the note. We just want him to know that we aren't going to 'unfriend' him - that we do care - we just aren't sure what to do. Aren't sure how we can best help.
Anyway, I'm not sure what all else to say about it. It sucks, but I can't have him stay at my place again. In talking with another friend, she was just hoping for some kind of wake-up for him, but not in a "hit rock bottom," kind of sense, but just that he would realize what he really had to change, that some of that stubbornness would go away so that he could do what he needed to do to get things going. He's smart. He can be charming. He has crazy good computer skills. We don't know what to do . . .
. . . as for me, things have been remarkably good other than that. My job is going well, I feel like I have a better support network of people around me than I've had in a long, long time, and I've been doing lots of yoga which has me feeling better, too. I know that's not much to say, but it's enough considering that I haven't posted here much lately.
Hope everybody out there is swimming along well enough. Be well. Eat some cheese.
A group of us got together at a cafe last saturday to see what all we could do. Some people have let him stay at their place, others aren't really willing to, and some just lament some of the choices (and lack thereof) that got him here. The concensus seemed to be that we'd all be willing to chip-in on anything like clothes for an interview, money for a security deposit, and other things like that . . . people weren't willing to have him stay at their place for longer times. We also know how prideful he can be about things, and so we would be willing to offer help in researching support resources for him if he wanted help with that (he had gotten upset at people who mentioned various community resources because he said it insulted him - that mentioning of these things inferred that he hadn't looked them up before). How were they to know? Why not just say, "Thanks - I have tried those, and it didn't work out."? That would be fine to say.
While the attitude he showed wasn't so endearing, we also think that he's just battling depression. When you see things like this . . . sometimes it's like the person who is talking isn't really the person, it's the depression. So it makes it easier to somehow to let things like that roll off your back.
There was one of us who was there that seemed to still be particularly trusted by our now homeless friend. He agreed that he would send the note. We just want him to know that we aren't going to 'unfriend' him - that we do care - we just aren't sure what to do. Aren't sure how we can best help.
Anyway, I'm not sure what all else to say about it. It sucks, but I can't have him stay at my place again. In talking with another friend, she was just hoping for some kind of wake-up for him, but not in a "hit rock bottom," kind of sense, but just that he would realize what he really had to change, that some of that stubbornness would go away so that he could do what he needed to do to get things going. He's smart. He can be charming. He has crazy good computer skills. We don't know what to do . . .
. . . as for me, things have been remarkably good other than that. My job is going well, I feel like I have a better support network of people around me than I've had in a long, long time, and I've been doing lots of yoga which has me feeling better, too. I know that's not much to say, but it's enough considering that I haven't posted here much lately.
Hope everybody out there is swimming along well enough. Be well. Eat some cheese.
