Postscript to Homeless

FREEDOM ABOVE ALL

Of the various comments on my post, Homeless by Choice, a particularly lovely one was in the form of an email from Marilyn, a former student of mine when I was teaching at Gonzaga in Florence in the 1970S. She stayed with us in Orvieto that summer and we remained in touch. Now a grandmother, she lives in Baltimore with her artist husband, Steven Shapiro.

 “Here in our little suburban wilderness, we don’t experience the variety of street folks as you do in Orvieto.  There is a man in his late 50s who lives in the woods along the trail near our house.  Neighbours leave bags of fast food for him at various assigned benches along his route.  He never speaks to anyone.  Just trudges past the hikers and bikers he meets along the miles of wooded trails he wanders each day. He seems well nourished, but is unkempt with a raggedy beard and layers upon layers of old jackets and baggy pants.  He keeps his belongings in a backpack and dons or sheds them in concert with the weather.

During really cold nights, he takes shelter in the basement of a small church near the trail where, I suppose, he can shower and do laundry from time to time.  He bothers no one and no one bothers him.

A few years ago, a wealthy family with a rather large farm near us offered our homeless man an apartment in their barn plus meals.  In return, they asked him to care for their four horses – which I understand he did quite well for a few months. There was a big article about the arrangement in our local newspaper. Then he went back to the trail.

I guess he’s contented since the locals leave him alone and offer what they can to keep him healthy. His life is anything but romantic and since he doesn’t speak, we will probably never know who he is or where he’s from. What we do know though is that what matters most to him is the freedom to live his life as he chooses.”