Sitting in this beautiful meadow in the foothills of the West Virginia Appalachian Mountains always brings me peace. Watching the brown butterflies mingle with the tiger swallows as they get the last of the nectar from the purple and yellow ironweeds can take a man’s thoughts to wonderful places. Just the way all the meadow life coexists as well as the many varieties of bees and insects that freely roam and feed from it…perfect unity of life.
But as I sit and gaze upon the wonders of Mother Nature in front of me I am sad. For this is no longer my home. Not because the bees and butterflies want me to leave. And the Ironweed sure loves me as well as the life force of the meadow itself. So why am I leaving?
I guess I could tell a long story of land owners using homeless people for work, or that greed or selfishness ruined a good thing. Yet simply, sometimes bad things just happen to good, regular people. And this would be my case.
Now the reason I am leaving isn’t as important as the question of where will I go. Because like millions of Americans, by choice or by circumstance, choose to live either in the streets or at the mercy and kindness of land owners, and like me are homeless. Many do not trust or “fit in” this society and system that to many of us seems hell bent on killing us instead of sustaining and caring for us. So we live day by day the best we can without being involved in that.
Our lives may seem strange and tragic to some, but to us yours seems just as strange and tragic. And where this isn’t the dilemma of the homeless issue, it does cause us all to look at each other as strangers instead of brothers.
This is what I am wanting to change by going to homeless areas, talking with y’all as the homeless brother I am, in a humble attempt to bring a solution that we can live in peace yet still live the way we see fit. I have already begun with a Facebook page dedicated to communication specifically for homeless people and their families, if any, or loved ones that worry. It can also be used for valuable “street intel” for bad places as well as jobs or food…even just company. I hope that this will begin the talking part, but as for me I will be hitting the streets. I hope to cover from Big Springs, West Virginia to SF Cali via Chicago and anywhere any of you, we the people, want to talk.
I will ask the People’s Tribune to keep doing what they are doing to help, but to also help us get through this winter without losing lives and finding solutions.
So, if you have something to say and feel you are left behind, well I want to hear you . . . the People’s Tribune wants to hear you . . . so please talk to us.
It’s our time and we are all we have.
Visit Bill Bunting at the Homeless Information Portal on Facebook.
Editor’s Note: Unfortunately Bill Bunting is currently incarcerated and asks for your help for bail. Please donate at PayPal.me/BillBunting.
Where do we go from here?
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