I guess I fit into this

Reading the print edition of Spare Change (a Boston street paper sold by vendors who are homeless) had an interesting article on how homeless people across the world have started to use social media to tell their stories.

Obviously I fit into this but it reaffirms that behind EVERY homeless person there is a story.

http://bit.ly/hJyfro

Years ago I used to date the manager of the long forgotten Mug & Muffin in Harvard Square.

It was around 1980 and she befriended a homeless man named Charlie. He was well known in Harvard Square as a hopeless but harmless drunk. Well in getting to know him she discovered that he worked for many years as a photographer around Lowell and he had served in Korea. He was candid and said he just gave up when his wife one day left for another man.

She helped him get in touch with the VA and it turned out he was eligible for benefits because of a wartime injury and he would get a retroactive check.

He promised he would sober up when he got the money but sadly he didn't make it.

The Red Line extension was being built and the old Out of Town News was actually placed on rollers so it could be moved when a new hole was dug. Charlie got confused one night and we think he was just using Out of Town as a landmark when he fell into a shaft and was killed.

But I never forgot that he did have a life before booze took control.

Please keep that in mind when you see a homeless person.

Thanks for reading....
Sent on from my BlackBerry® so typos are because of tiny keys