Homelessness - - Profil3

“are you actually going to camp out for three days?” queried my friend Alexander “maybe but after all the shootings I’m kinda scared” I anxiously replied. This conversation was taking place in early November when people were being shot over the Playstation 3, and I was preparing to camp in front of Gamestop to get my hands on another video game system the Nintendo Wii that was coming out later that week. But, during my stay outside of that Gamestop I would get much more than the system I had been waiting months for, I would meet a man who would teach me to take nothing for granted.

I awoke on the morning of November 10th, 2006 to the strum of a guitar emerging from my stereo/alarm clock and entering my subconscious by means of my ears. “nggghhh” I moaned as I cursed myself for waking up at 5:30 in the morning. After what felt like an eternity of debating whether to give up on my goals or not, I thrust myself out of bed and stumbled through my parent’s room.” “What am I doing?” I asked myself “hey mom” I whispered as I entered the room which, I later found out sounded like “nghhh” and wasn’t very quiet. “its time” I then proceeded to throw some clothes on and slap myself until I was sure my cheeks would fall off in an attempt to wake me up. My mom and I piled into the car and headed down to the Madison mall to begin our wait for the Wii. Our journey was just beginning.

When we arrived at Gamestop none of the lights were on, anywhere, not even McDonald’s, of course this was to be expected at 6 A.M. while my mother and I sat there we saw things I will never forget, what in my opinion it must feel like to be watching the sun rise on the top of the world, the lights slowly started to flicker on one after another, McDonald’s, Hollywood Video, Raley’s, while the cars started to carry those people unfortunate enough to be trapped working on a Saturday, when I found another kind of worker. A pungent odor filled my nose as I noticed a homeless man going on his daily run of collecting cans so he could afford some things off the dollar menu at McDonald’s. “gurgle…..grrrrr” I remember hearing as he walked by “whoa are you hungry?” my mom asked him as he walked by “well I didn’t make it make it in time to the can recycling center last night, so I went without dinner.” “Well, nobody goes hungry if I can help it , what’s your name again?” my mom questioned him while handing him a 10 dollar bill. “Jeff, and I couldn’t take your money.” “no have it” my mom said with a smile. Then, the happiest smile I have ever seen crept across Jeff’s face, on I can only describe as the smile a little boy has when he sneaks out at Christmas to see a bike wrapped up under the tree. “thanks this will buy me breakfast, lunch, and dinner!” I thought this was the last I would see of Jeff, boy was I wrong. Sunrise was beginning to creep over the houses opposite from the hazel shopping center, when I heard the most horrid thing my half frozen ears could perceive, elevator music. I can remember that moment well, it was 7:46 and I realized that nobody was going to stop for me to wait in front of Gamestop, and I realized that this would be a little different than I had originally planned. Over the course of the next 2 hours I would receive the worst looks from people, I thought that it must be like when someone has some horrible deformity that everyone tries to ignore but it’s completely obvious to everyone that they are staring right at it. I really can’t blame them, I was sitting outside of Gamestop sitting in the seats from the back of my mom’s van, while it was all over the news that people were being shot doing the same thing I was, looking back on it, what was I thinking? I was amazingly relieved to escape my tortured existence in front of that store when Nick and Ryan the two people who were opening up Gamestop that day opened the door to let us in. The dry heat blasted my face as I rushed in “AHHHHHH” I proclaimed as I took off one of my sweatshirts “have you been here all morning?” Nick asked “nah just since 6” “that’s a little early!” Ryan burst out “all in a days work.” I retorted, soon I would begin to realize just how much a day was. The next few hours were generally eventless, I just stayed within the warm shelter of Gamestop and watched people come in and out, the shifts change, and chat with Jeff when he walked by. Around noon my friend Alexander came by to see how I was doing as well as drop off some pizza, this proved to be quite delicious with some high-caffeine Arizona iced tea, alas this energy boost would not prove to be enough to keep me awake as I went and slept in the car as I readied myself for the last leg of my journey.

I paid the cashier at Raley’s my money and walked out with my new bottle of Arizona in hopes this would keep me awake for the remaining 6 hours of my stay. Things had started to slow down at Gamestop, people were coming in less frequently, as it seemed nobody wanted to buy games at 8 at night except for those who reeked of marijuana. Jeff had come by when I hadn’t noticed and had told my mother how he had gotten into his current situation. Jeff had a life that few could match, he was born in south Dakota but moved out here with his family when he was a child, he fought in Vietnam and had a decent job working in construction. One night he was hit by an uninsured drunk driver, who busted up Jeff’s arm so he could no longer work. This inability to work was what led him to his life without a house, one step away from any of us. Gamestop was closing for an hour so that they could get ready for the midnight release of the Wii, Jeff found us and sat down next to us and told us that this was “the most fun and excitement that I’ve had in a while!” the doors eventually opened for us and we went inside to the warm sanctuary where we were tempted by the thought that the object we had been waiting or was only a few feet away. This is when everyone started showing up, there was a massive surge of people who got in line for their Wii. “this is it” I told myself as a massive “WOAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH” swept through the crowd like a wave hitting the shore when the clock struck midnight and the wiis were brought out. That was it I purchased my wii and my adventure was over. I was one tired kid.

This essay is not a proclamation of my nerdyness, nor an essay bragging that I got my wii before anyone else on the west coast, this was a story of understanding, something that is hard for people to find on their own. During my 18 hour stay in front of Gamestop I learned many things, that we are not any better than anyone else, only different, and to take nothing for granted, that everything we have can be gone because of someone else’s mistake. Sometimes those with the least can give you the most, so next time you see a homeless person don’t think that they are less of a person than you think of what they can teach you.