An image keeps haunting me

@ChiefJustWalks and maybe a lottery ticket that turns out to be a huge winner. And then he's helping a bunch of others....hopefully...

@RebelFox my grandpa was a veteran. I only met him as a baby. He disappeared after that. Then in 2012 he was found dead on a sidewalk. Turns out he'd been homeless for years & he drank himself to death. I didn't get to know him but I've heard everybody speak so highly about him & he's so cool in my mind. It really changed how I look at homeless people. My mom too. So her & I have met so many homeless people over the years. She used to let them in her house, cook for them, & I'd get worried for her sometimes but she did that because of how she felt about her dad. So I just kept an eye on her. I still do because she's still like that to this day 🤷😂 she's practically a homeless person herself & she has a damn home lol

@RebelFox oh wow, and so true!

@ChiefJustWalks That is such a beautifully respectful tribute to your grandpa and your mom!💓

@morrgin I use to work with homeless people and this is very true. Amongst men, at the time it was about 87% of homeless were diagnosed with a mental illness. Now this lead them to be homeless and being homeless led them to drug dependency, as they found the drugs they used to help with, initially, their mental illness. As for women the stats are much lower for mental illness and a huge portion, like you said, is due to domestic violence. A lot run away and have to put up in a shelter or in homeless communities because most of their family don’t understand and wouldn’t help. To help deal with PTSD or other relatable issues they turn to drugs or alcohol to try and ‘forget’. One lady in our shelter was living on a reserve, and her ex was abusive. She was put in the hospital and no one helped her. She “disappeared” from the hospital, she couldn’t check herself out due to the injuries, and started living on the streets. She unfortunately got into prostitution to make money and drugs to forget what she was doing. This lead her to the place I worked. She had changed her life completely by the time I was there. You would never have guessed what she had been through. It’s sad when you hear their actual story and I get what @DearAmbellina2113. What were they like before, what would their life be like if they never went through these tragedies?

@badminton not all do drugs or drink some need help mentally and have no where to turn I've been homeless a couple times and seem I will b again soon but I have a car that helps

@Eddiesolds No you wouldn't! You'd just keep on getting by, not realizing how bad it looked to other observers. You'd keep on surviving and carrying on. I think.