TOMMY

PHOTO BY RANDY BACON

TOMMY’S STORY

I’ve been homeless now for six months. This is now longer than I would have ever expected to be homeless. I lost my job, and I just figured I could easily get a new job, and it’s turned out to be harder than I expected. Now being homeless, I also keep losing things, you know, having them stolen from me. This causes me to lose my hopes of being able to keep a job or something because it’s hard to keep a job when you haven’t got the phone, you know to get the work orders and things like that. You really can't fully realize what is gonna happen in the future. A lot of what happens is many different things you could not have thought of, like being homeless, by just the circumstances of life.

The hardest part about being homeless is that I am not able to help other people. Seeing other people homeless and wanting to do something for them and maybe give them a place to stay for the night or a ride or something like that. It’s just hard for me because I like to help people.

When people see me, I would like for them to know that I’m not this way normally. I do have aspirations in life, to have a home, to pay my bills, to just be a part of the human race - the “normal” human race. What we’re all expected to be, to work and get our own food and I want to be part of that.

Being homeless, though, has taught me many things, including not be so proud and prideful to think it could never happen to you, because you’re just a step away from it every day. Something can happen, someone can die in your life, sickness could happen to befall you, thousands of reasons a person is just a step away, every day of his life from being homeless. You should never take the good days for granted. Appreciate the moments. And be thankful. And be thankful for the bad times too.

My dream is to get off the street. Be able to give back for things and opportunities I’ve been given. And things people have helped me with and everything, I’d like to be able to give that back to other people that need it worse than I do even to this day. I like to be able to give what I get for myself now to other people.

I would say to anyone, just be aware that homeless people are people too. That they care and they love. They’ve got families and everything else, they may just be broke up with them right now. It’s just a lesson from the father above. It’s something they gotta learn that they haven’t learned yet. Maybe when they learn that they’ll get set right off the street. I think God always has a lesson in our circumstances,. He’s just going to keep on trying to teach us this lesson, you know, until we get it. And then things change, that’s when our blessings come. Who knows, I may be on the street to help somebody. To learn something for myself or for them. I never thought I would be homeless, so that lesson there is one I never thought I’d have to learn.