And still, he could wind up in trouble. He works a second job at a furniture place to pay the bills. He knows plenty of other people who struggle with rents and mortgages. People with kids. I couldn't take a month's layoff.
People automatically assume that a homeless person has to have a drug and alcohol problem.
The quickest-growing population of the homeless is children. Rose likes to talk to people about where he's been, how he got a boost out of a black hole of despair. The more people he reaches, he figures, the better the chance for help and understanding instead of mistrust and stereotypes. The better the odds that those on the street might find their way home, perhaps to cook burgers on the grill for their kids. Oliver Mackson's column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.