The Economy still hasn't hit bottom yet...

Today is Sunday 19 April--and no, the Economy still hasn't hit bottom yet....

If you look around, you'll see that things have changed--slightly in some cases, more so in others.

Last year the cost of homes was a bit higher perhaps than it is today--however, those homes that were on sale last year, might still be on the market, or may have sold for far less than the owners would have wanted.

The nuances of what "change" means, is getting difficult to sort out.

I know that some changes that often come to mind are for job security, being able to pay one's mortgage, being able to pay one's bills, being able to afford "extra" things, not necessarily luxury things.

Change can also mean an adjustment to a different standard of living, spending, doing things.

The other day I went to the US Post office to mail a large envelope, and the postal clerks were talking to each other and to some of us who were customers at that time.

A woman sleeps in the lobby of the post office each night--after the building closes for business for the day. She comes in, goes toward a corner that can't be seen from the door (in the part of the building where P.O. key boxes are located, sort of hides herself and her stuff behind/in a huge garbage can, and then goes to sleep.

The Postal employees describe her as being in her mid fifties, clean, polite, and a victim of circumstances.

I wonder what her circumstances have been that she is alone, and sleeping in the Post Office lobby?

Some of the postal employees took up a collection of some cash for her around Christmas time.

Again, I wonder--how does one wind up in such a circumstance--how does a person become homeless. Alone. Without property, without possessions.

Several weeks ago, I visited my daughter at her university in a City several hours away from home. We did a few things during the day, one of those things being a trip to a nearby Starbucks for some coffee.

This Starbucks was a bit different than others I've been in, yet, I imagine that it's not all that different after all, just that the homeless people who occupied a couple of tables, plus a chair or two, were there, meaning that they were there and not somewhere else, while we who are not homeless, were there too, during the day time.

At least one difference too--these homeless were not clean, they were scruffy and dirty looking. They were wearing numerous layers of clothing; their hands and faces were dirty with sooty looking black stuff, their clothes were dirty too. And, they used the restroom at the Starbucks which made at least one very clean looking woman decide to find another restroom to use--somewhere else.

Over the years, I recall seeing Bag-Ladies in restrooms in train stations, in supermarkets, in department stores, attempting to take care of their personal needs and grooming. I remember too that "other" people using the facilities gave them lots of room.

Then too, some years ago, I also remember seeing a woman lower her pants in a corner of NYC's Penn Station to urinate and defecate in plain view of the hordes of people who were passing through to their trains.

While I have been very fortunate to never have gone without the basics that I assumed were necessary for my standard of living, I can't help but wonder about how the homeless "manage" their lives. The people in the Starbucks seemed to have some connection with each other, possibly some kind of helping arrangement. Maybe I just want them to be helping each other.

I know that I can't fix the world, I can't even help the few random people who approach me to beg when I go to these places where the homeless inhabit open spaces, and public spaces.

Always though I wonder, how close am I to this kind of life. Could it happen to me someday--to my family, to my children. What would I do?

Lila