A sad commentary

Maya

Yes, I'm preaching to the choir. Yes, this subject has been beaten to death. Yes, I am posting about it anyway.

I have noticed lately that I have an increasingly hard time distinguishing bedraggled commuters from homeless people when I am at the train station. Seriously. There have been so many occasions lately where I thought someone was a homeless person taking refuge in Penn Station, only to see them with an Amtrak ticket in hand or otherwise clearly not homeless. Something about the hair that hasn't seen a comb in 10 days, the men's elastic waist sweatpants, and stained tshirt, perhaps.

Sigh.

15 years ago

General

11 replies

Latest reply was from rae

Lisa

Veteran

I think everyone is just tired of the cold, wet weather. I want spring and spring clothing so bad right now. I do love my boots and jeans, but I really want something frilly, fun, and with bare legs. Getting dressed in the morning is just depressing me lately. I'm tired of being cold.

15 years ago

Steph

Veteran

I have noticed Penn Station is prime territory for this.

15 years ago

Laura B.

Active Member

I see this all the time too, especially in my classes. I steer clear of the rows of people in their PJs and the ones who smell and look like they came from running a marathon so I don't feel overdressed. At least I have you lovely ladies for inspiration

15 years ago

rae

(website)

Veteran

Yikes! Color me glad of my backwards, public-transportation-challenged city, for once. I think I would be afraid to be in an enclosed area, surrounded by potential homeless people. Maybe that is ignorant of me, but I feel like people have been more desperate with the economy the way it is.

15 years ago

Maya

Veteran

Most homeless people keep to themselves and just want to be left alone to survive. I don't judge them. They face enough judgment and cruelty as it is and I can't bring myself to add to it. In my experience, they just want to get through the day and not be bothered. Nothing to be afraid of.

That said, it just makes me depressed to think that some people dress that way INTENTIONALLY, when so many out there do it simply because they have no option.

15 years ago

cheryl

Veteran

Maya, it is sad that people that have option still dont make themselves presentable.

Lisa i am with you. I am so tired of being cold.

15 years ago

Maya

Veteran

I never look forward to spring and summer dressing. I would love for it to hover between 20 and 80 degees all year. Not a stitch above or below. But overall I love cold weather more than hot. When I overheat (which is basically all summer long, every single day), there is nothing I can do about it. But when I get cold, I can bundle up and look pretty cute.

15 years ago

rae

(website)

Veteran

I understand, Maya. I am probably biased, since my friend and I were screamed at by a homeless man once. We were just out of middle school, and my friend offered him an apple, and he just laid into us, really angry aggressive-like. He probably wasn't well mentally, but it made an impression. :T

It is pretty interesting that some people dress like that intentionally. I found myself wondering, "Where do these people work? Where are they going that it's acceptable to dress that way? Don't they want to look good for their friends?" As you said, it's easier to look good in the cold - just throw on a good coat the top, at very least. Maybe I'm too vain to understand, lol.

15 years ago

Maya

Veteran

I felt SO sorry for the woman I saw today. It was appalling. She was the one in oversized men's sweatpants. They must have been an XXL because she had the drawstrings tightened just as tight as they could go, so all the fabric was bunching and pleating in a balloon around her hips and legs. They were probably once black but were so faded they looked more like charcoal gray. Her hair was ghastly. Gray with white streaks and totally frazzled, uneven and sticking out all over the place, like it hadn't been professionally trimmed in years but rather hacked off with a hedge trimmer. She came up behind me to look in the mirror and sort of primped it around, but there was no saving that mane, and she knew it, so she just threw it back into a ponytail.

I was just wondering what on earth could have happened to her to get her to that point. If her clothes could talk they would have said "I'm clinically depressed and I hate myself." Rather than feeling judgmental I just felt concerned for her. You don't go out looking like that unless you have just given up on some part of your life.

15 years ago

Elly

Veteran

Most of the people in my town that dress like homeless people actually make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. It's the style. We have very few actual homeless people around here. It is too cold for them since we don't have a shelter (we have a women's shelter, but no homeless shelter). Last winter a homeless man was sleeping behind the only psuedo-soup kitchen in town and was bitten by a BEAR. The bear just sniffed him and bit his arm because apparently the guy smelled dead.

15 years ago

rae

(website)

Veteran

Elly, that's horrible! Poor man. Although he was lucky that he was not appealing to the bear!

Maya, good point. I can relate to the feeling of giving up. I tend to give up on other things first (housekeeping, car washing, etc.), but it's still giving up. I agree that its a sad commentary when the whole of Penn Station seems to have given up.

15 years ago

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