I was at Church Under the Bridge again, and I noticed Nawin and went to go talk with him. ‘Rick’ fairly towered over Nawin; they were standing awkwardly perpendicular to each other, on a section of curb hugging a concrete pillar. They were in rugged gear—Nawin with his signature dust-blue cap and jacket, Rick with a bright-red baseball cap, loose jeans and thick grey t-shirt.
Rick tilted his head to Nawin and they exchanged some terse conversation (I couldn’t make it out). I caught up with Nawin a bit, and struck up a conversation with Rick.
It was interesting to hear about actual, physical difficulties of living homeless—that it’s so easy to accidentally break the law. Of course, every law is passed for a reason, and I can get a sense of how it must be difficult—near impossible—to choose laws that maximize fairness towards people without homes, and safety towards the entire Austin public. Again, I feel like has to do with the fact that every homeless person is so different from the next… in terms of how they became homeless, what their background is, what their present attitude is. I can imagine how a homeless person with a screw-it-all attitude could easily turn lawmakers and/or law enforcement against all homeless people. Actually, I think that’s probably what happens in general.
Chao,
Isabella, 11/20/2016
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