I spent years and years without a home. I might have called myself a vagabond, but more often than not I was homeless. Let me tell you, there's no more lonely and sad experience than being homeless in a city.

So, we can break down the homeless into three categories or the sake of this discussion. The addicts, the crazies and the despondent. What they do all day depends on where they fall (and many will switch between the groups). There is one factor that's really important to understand. Being homeless is being tired all the time.

Ever stay up for a few days? Perhaps you were cramming for an exam, or working too much. You know how you lose track of the days? How you have no idea what time it is? how you can look at a clock and find hours have gone by? How every part of your body aches?

The homeless feel this all the time. See, in a city, you can never get any real sleep. Shelters are nightmare machines. Alleys are a momentary respite, where any noise wakes you up...and if it doesn't, bad things can happen to you. Add to that cold, hunger stress, and your days begin to fade into one another. You can be sitting on a park bench, and suddenly realize you've been there all day.

Compared to living on the road, being homeless in a city is a grey hell, punctuated by moments of real danger. Violence is a fact of life...and you're invisible. Nobody leaps out of their car to help you in your time of need.

So let's look at the three groups. The despondent are the most active. They're the ones who lost their jobs. Their homes. Their families and friends. Their days are busy. See, there are plenty of social services in America available, but it's a system is done in pieces...and each piece requires navigating a different social services department, a different set of rules and regulations. Food stamps is administered by someone different than handles Medicaid, or housing, or welfare or a dozen other things. Each step requires weeks and weeks of waiting. All the while you beginning to lose hope. We might spend a great deal of social services, but spend it poorly. Some people, most people, give up along the way. You have to eat, and that means going to a daily temp service, or hitting up charities...but the minute you do that, the process you started for government help might have to start over to reflect your "changing" conditions. Yeah, they have aspirations...they want the nightmare to end. I they don't become a crazy or an addict, most of them do eventually.

The crazies are a different breed. What do they do? Who knows. They sure don't. Most crazies on the street figure out an angle to keep fed. Preaching on the corner. Asking the same people every day for change. Muttering to themselves. Some are just mental patients who are allowed out during the day. Not truly homeless, but they appear that way. Some have found a way to make the lifestyle work for them. You'll se them in homeless camps that spring up every now and then. It's a lifestyle. Some of them will share great stories. They have dreams. Strange dreams. I try to buy them a coffee every now and then and let them share. Give it a try sometime.

The addicts are the third kind, and those bastards are dangerous and scary. See, when you have an addiction, you have to keep it fed. A junkie will rob from his best friend for a fix. They're the ones mugging other homeless people, and shaking them down for cash. They're breaking into homes and stealing copper. They're shoplifting diabetic test strips or baby powder to trade for drugs. They keep busy. Their dream is today, and it's just about their next fix.

So, there's no one answer. It's a disgrace that we can't help the first two groups.