Naturally, if I came upon a blog entry about a real-life homeless person, I’d have certain expectations. I would immediately think that blog would be an enlightening look into the hardships of a homeless person, or a tale of how such an unfortunate person is a good person in a bad position.
This is not one of those tales.
Last summer, through a series of unfortunate small business ruining events, my dad and I were in desperate need of income. A guy we knew--we’ll call him Jerry instead of using his real name--asked if he could park his camper on our yard. My Dad said it was okay and charged him what was acceptable rent for a keeping a vehicle.
Little did we know that Jerry was coming along with the thing.
It was pretty sudden too. A truck pulled into the driveway, containing a load of assorted junk in it’s bed. Jerry was directing two other guys to put all this stuff--a combination of exercise equipment, mismatched tent poles, and other junk--into my barn. So I just went up to Jerry and asked, “What’s goin on?” And boy did things get strained from then.
Jerry was already a problem--a nuisance that took advantage of us on multiple occasions. I met the guy a year before, when my dad sold the guy a brand-new scooter. It seemed that Jerry had found a couple of people he could really bug. At first, it was just constant visits and worthless advice. Yes, the homeless man who rode a bike everywhere was giving us advice. Usually it was something along the line of “Ray, you should open up a tattoo and piercing parlor” and stuff along that line. My Dad ignored him for the most part, but I was getting annoyed with this guy.
Annoying was one thing, but crazy was another. I was unloading a truck one morning when I heard Jerry rummaging through one of his vehicles (he rides only bikes at the present time) cursing and mumbing to himself. Just ignore him I thought to myself, but then of course he came over to me and said. “Some guys came into my truck last night and stole a couple of cameras.” In order for this to have been true, these “guys” would have had to get past our ever-alert Rotweiller/Golden Retriever mix, unlock the vehicle, know exactly where the cameras were, lock the truck back up again, and leave the property without animals, humans, or security cameras aware of the whole incident.
The most alarming slip of psychosis was when Jerry assured my dad that when getting into his trailer one night, “They” snuck up behind him and hit him in the back with a rake.
I really could rant forever and give numerous incidents to explain why I don’t get along with this guy. In fact, while utilizing the local library’s Internet typing up my previous blog entry “Look Around”, Jerry came in and sat two seats away from me. And for a seemingly lengthy time he stared at me. He talked to me several times and I gave him my standard noncommittal answers. All I wanted was to get out of there so I wouldn’t have to talk to him anymore.
You’ve drudged through all this to get to this point: nothing is always as it seems. You’d expect me to be the progressive person who stresses how the homeless are to be pitied and/or cared for, but Jerry is an example that negates all this. He has enough money to buy a house, get insurance and an inspection for his car, and live like a normal human being, but it seems to be that he likes living the way he does, letting people question his sanity and hygiene. Not everyone aspires to be a doctor or even live in a house. It’s kind of strange to think this way, but that’s the way things are.
Ratings and comments are very much appreciated on any of my blog entries.
this story reminds me of my friend's neighbor. Gordy owns a nice 20-acre field behind his house and has a pond out back as well. He used to have more acres but he sold some to this guy who's name I can't recall right now. but after he had sold it this guy planned on building a house and cultivating it. We'll call him Ernie. Ernie started building and then left the rubble on the land, had an old beatup car and run down ice cream truck parked among the trees on the lot and left the land a dump. Then his living situation changed, because he couldn't afford to build on the land yet or live in the house he had, he had to move into a smaller place, and needed somewhere to put some of his stuff such as large clay drums for his pottery making and all kinds of other things. So Gordy said sure, he could move some of the stuff into his barn for a while since he didn't have the horses anymore. Well Gordy wants my friend and I to help him restore the barn and get more horses but he can't because Ernie's stuff just keeps piling up. Ernie won't come get any of the stuff and he won't let Gordy sell it to clear out the space. I've had some personal experience with people like the "Jerry" you speak of, but your story reminded me of this particular case.
Jerry definitely has some mental illness.
We have a neighbor like that right now. Well, not exactly like that, but she is definitely struggling with some mental illness. She is very quiet and would otherwise not be an annoyance, except she smells really bad, she takes her little dog everywhere she goes, and she lets him pee in the hallways of our building. She also has periods of depression, during which the dog does not get to go outside to go potty. The hallway by her unit reeks. The smell that trails behind her seems evidence that she is not taking care of herself, hygiene-wise, but it's also not enough to call social services on her. I'd hate to have her forcibly removed from her home and institutionalized just because she smells bad and her dog pees on the hallway carpet. But she's so people-phobic that you can't talk to her or offer help of any kind. It's frustrating!
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Can your landlord contact some of her family to at least help her with basic stuff?
www.progressiveu.org/blog/americangirlinchina
Mental illnesses are often really hard to deal with, since paranoia is often part of the illness, making it very difficult to approach the person with the illness to offer help; as soon as you offer any assistance, the person often becomes defensive, thinking you are attacking him or her. They are so used to being attacked in our society, that people with mental illness are often way overly cautious about other people. I work with a lot of people struggling with mental illness, and to some degree, I struggle with it as well (I have cycles of depression that can get pretty ugly at times, I can also be a bit paranoid.) I think the best thing you can do is build trust with people; it takes a lot of time and a lot of listening to rambling that might not make sense to you, but to them, the conversation could be very important. Anyway, I've been working hard to gain trust at the shelters I work at and the other day I got the most amazing compliment because of it; one of the ladies I work with who has a lot of mental illness issues said "I love it when you or Becky work...the two of you are like angels from heaven, you make everything calm around here..." It took a lot of months of being very patient to reach that status, but it can be done, even with the most paranoid...
Love ya,
Carrot
For the most part, I avoid the guy. Just being around him makes me feel uncomfortable, so I compromise and not be a jerk by saying anything rude by just staying away. Also, there's question to the extent of his mental illness. You see, my Dad seems to think it's all an act for attention, but I think the guy is genuinly paranoid ...and probably a few other things, but I'm not sure what the psychological terms would be.
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Mind Control is Easier Than You Think
I wouldn't exactly call the guy homeless.....it seems that he is quite at home being nomadic. To me, homelessness is a state of mind as well as a function of where you sleep.
F*** Religion. Read more here:
http://www.progressiveu.org/020528-f-religion
This guy sounds fishy. Your dad can't tell him to leave? Or is that not possiable. I would watch yourself because this guy seems really strange. I would hate for you or your dad to get hurt. You can only be nice for so long.
http://www.progressiveu.org/032913-lupus-uncureable-wait-what
Love comments? I do too!
Technically, he was told to leave by the end of October....of last year. He still hasn't left. Unfortunately, it seems that before we are rid of him, someone else must get the guy and his loads of crap dumped on them in order for him to leave. Quite frustrating, but for the most part I ignore the guy.
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Mind Control is Easier Than You Think
homelessness, it is more about not having a place to store your thing, shower, eat, and sleep. jerry definitely sounds like he may have some issues to work out. mostly his paranoid delusions and he seems to be a reasonable person, otherwise how could he have stayed at the house, all throughout the winter, without being kicked off? sometimes you have to put your foot down, get off of your butt and take a stand. tell your father that he worries you, because of his mental state, because it seems like he was following you, he stared at you, and tell him you would appreciate it if he moved. also tell your father that he should make up an excuse, like "the family is coming over for a reunion and we are going to need every square inch of space to fit them in." then have him invite friends over and have a little barbecue, the "reunion." and then don't invite him back. just my two cents.
Yours truly,
.demosthenes
I appreciate your two cents, but I doubt the situation could be that easy. Eventually we will be rid of annoy ol' "Jerry", but for now we'll just have to pretend there's nobody living in that trailer in the backyard...
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This is a signature, an automated thingy that pops up when I comment, not a demand to see my blog!
Mind Control is Easier Than You Think