OMG, not five minutes after I typed that last post did I have one of the greatest experiences ever...
A homeless guy passed out on my porch about 1 1/2 years ago. I tried to wake him but it just wasn't happening. He was blocking my door. So I called the cops. A police officer showed up 10 minutes later, tried to wake the guy and also got no response. So the cop puts on the rubber gloves and tazers the guy... For a good three minutes.
Well, it's tonight. I see the same guy (haven't seen him since that day but Goddamn if I don't recognize him from a block away) and flag him down for a conversation. He's shitfaced (of course), but so am I and we sit down and have a talk about his history. Turns out he's a Sioux Indian (which explains his affliction with booze, I'm from Minnesota and have seen enough of that shit to verify it) and is a Vietnam Vet (shocking that he's a fucking mess, right).
It turns out the guy graduated from State here in Long Beach (even has the papers to prove it) and is so completely fucked up from alcohol, drugs, and Vietnam that he never really recovered.
Simply amazing how someone (even a Lieuey like he was in the Marines, again had papers to show it) who is educated and ready to grapple the world can be so completely ruined as a human being by war.
Like I said in the last post, you never know where enlightenment may come. If I hadn't flagged him down and offered him a smoke, I never would have experienced this last 30 minutes.
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