DC walking in wet shoes

From the reflections @ what was hard about the homeless challenge just before it ended:
People didn't acknowledge me, they didn't look at me, I didn't exist
hard to know that i had a place to go
i felt really sad
i was being harassed and others intervened, chivalry isn't dead people took care of me
there's a community on the streets that isn't in the shelters, you don't get to choose, in a shelter, who you hang with or sleep close to
i felt really loved, welcomed with information
i heard people's stories all night long
there's such a lack of choice and control over your life, if you're a vegetarian you eat what people give you (i ate meat for the first time in over a year) and you have to get to a place on "time" in order to eat anything
surprised at how much i stereotyped "normal" people
reading body language was extremely important
telling my story about being on the street i felt pulled into being a FAILURE
i met people who were very, very well educated
it's mentally and physically exhausting to be on the streets, so who is really lazy really???
there's no such thing as "time" and there's no brain capacity past survival, sort of
loosing time was hard, what day is it, what year is it, i need to eat at 6, what is 6?

the reflections on the ethics of walking in wet shoes and the discussions with elected officials and our stories will come later shoes are wet because it's raining on the street.
good night