DearMissMermaid said:Having had fabulously good times and some super tough times... I say show a little compassion. The world needs more compassion.
Sometimes folks fall on hard times and coupled with the troubles comes incredible loneliness and often confusion. Sometimes folks just need a hand-up, not a hand out.
Heaven help us all if we accidentally fall on rough times and end up on the "homeless" list. There is this awful perception that all "homeless" folks are bad people. Sometimes the domino falls and it just keeps falling. The domino effect...
When I was terribly ill and living in my RV, I was parked in a very bad situation but extremely weak. A compassionate couple found out about my plight inviting me to come park on their land while I recuperated. I graciously took them up on their offer. Many days I was too weak to get out of bed, but they kept knocking on my door shoving soup and sandwiches at me. They went way out of their way to help me out and as I began to get well, I tried my best to repay them by helping them out around their house. I will never forget them or their kindness. I went to visit them awhile back and was extolling on their compassion; how it changed my life and gave me a "hand-up" to get well and get going again. They looked at me with total confusion and said "We did what any decent person would have done, what you would have done, what we hope someone would do for us if we were in a bad situation. It was no big deal!"
Well it was a big deal to me.
I guess karma finally caught up to them. I found out when a friend of theirs was dying, seemingly abandoned by his family, they nursed him at their home in his final days which stretched out to two years of debilitating illness. I visited them and helped out with his care to give them a break. A few months later, when he died, they found out he had redone his will leaving them his house (it was sitting empty in another town) life insurance proceeds and a huge pile of savings and stocks. When his "long lost" brother showed up to collect the estate... he was in for quite a shock.
Sometimes a little compassion never hurts.
Having said all that... I was once walking through a town carrying half of a sub sandwich. It was neatly wrapped, sliced in half, I had eaten half and was saving half for later. A woman in dirty clothes came up to me and I smiled. She asked me for money to buy food. I handed her my sandwich raving about how delicious it was and rattling off the ingredients.
Perhaps she was drug crazed (others said so later) but I gently handed her the sandwich. She threw it on the ground then jumped on it with her foot until it was a flattened mess. She yelled at me "I asked for money not food!" Then she stomped off. So sad to find out later , she was consumed by a nasty drug habit.
Life is goof.
What a lovely story. I'm glad someone was there to help you. It terrible to be alone. You know, while I've never been homeless, I have been in -very- desperate situations. Unlike your situation, no one came to my aid. Because of that, I promised I would never abandon anyone if I had the means to help. I knew what it felt like to be abandoned just when I needed someone the most. I do what I can to help, which is why I was upset about this guy in the van. He left before I had a chance to offer him my driveway. After reading a few responses I thought that I probably shouldn't be so caring of someone who would leave garbage on my street, but you know, I'm sure if I'd said something to him, he would have picked it up. I would never call the police on someone who's just trying to make it in life. I mean, how about a little respect? Why not just talk to him? He wasn't causing any harm. The neighbor who called the police also verbally abuses his wife. He power washes his pink and grey driveway and washes down his white plastic fence, in the midst of our drought in CA and has his abundantly watered green lawn treated once per month by a lawn maintenance company. To him, the guy in the van was subhuman. In my opinion, he has that backwards. I'd rather live next door to the guy in the van. If he was dangerous, the police would have taken him away when they ran a background check on him.
In the end, I decided to hit as many rv full timing forums as I could find to see if I could find this guy, maybe complaining about what happened, but no luck.
I wonder how many people kick him out when he's just trying to sleep. Where does he go? Where can he go if everyone kicks him out? It reminds me of the ducks around here A new small development destroyed a fresh water pond the ducks used to use for raising their young. Because the scum ruined the pond, the ducks have their babies in backyards with pools. I accommodate them. My neighbor scares them away from his yard at every opportunity. Where are they supposed to go? No one cares. All that matters to them is that they don't want to be inconvenienced. I put bricks on the first step of my pool so the babies can get out when they're ready. What's so hard about that?
I hope I find him. I'd at least like him to know that I was not the one who called the police.