“Sleeping shouldn't be illegal in a free society, like, I don't… I don't care how you want to slice that pie, that's… it shouldn't be illegal. We're free, right? It's crazy to me that they're even talking about that, you know?”
“I wish people would understand that staying like this isn’t healthy. I have PTSD man, when we stayed in a tent for a year, I had to do some things that I don’t feel like I should have to do anymore just to feel safe. I wish people understood that some of us don’t want this. They don’t understand the trials we have to go through. They think we have it easy because we don’t have anything to pay for or worry about. I wish they understood that we are people who have feelings.”
WHAT I WISH
PEOPLE UNDERSTOOD
“it’s like no matter how much i do, it’s never enough. I try to take up as little space as possible, sleep on the couch, stay out of the way, but I still feel like a problem.... like I am not wanted. I just don’t want to be a burden. I just need a safe space, but even that feels like too much to ask for. I hate feeling this way – like I have no sanctuary, nowhere to lock a door and feel at peace. So I sit up at night, make myself small, and try to not bother anyone.”
“even for us, laughter is good for the soul.”
“That's a picture of the sign because I know with that one, Atlanta and Spartanburg are on two different ends. And so I, whenever I see those green signs, I just kind of get the urge to just run - and just go, maybe start over somewhere new. But I'm trying to stay and build something. I’m tired of starting over.”
“This place right here, that’s hatred. Turmoil. Sadness. No hope. I just wish people would understand some of us don't want to be in this situation. They don't understand the trials we have to go through, they think that we have it easy because we don't have anything to pay for or anything to worry about.
And it's not an easy thing to overcome. I wish people understood we are people too and that we have feelings. And as hard as we try to fit in, we don't.
This is not no camping trip. This is my home. Like, no one wants to live like that.”
“Perspective versus Reality. People see us individually, but they are really thinking about as a whole, one certain way. Most people don’t realize that homelessness is symptomatic. Homelessness is symptomatic of mental illness. But people skip mental illness straight to addiction. That’s the way they see us, regardless of what led us here. I've known many people who are homeless that never touch drugs or alcohol, but are severely mentally ill and need help.”
“I took a picture of the Joe Jackson statue because some days I feel like I've like, you know, knocked it out the park. Some days I feel like I've, you know, I've done really good and I've put my best foot forward and then some days I don't feel like that. It just kind of, you know, just depends on the day. But it makes me think of the different steps that you have to take just to kind of get to, like a home run. Just kind of all the different steps you have to take and the different bases you have to go around, and it just can become kind of tedious and just kind of a struggle.”
“what I wish people understood is that homelessness is often a symptom of mental illness. Outsiders jump straight to addiction; that is how they see us. For the most part, people out here didn’t choose to lose everything to become an addict.”
