counting

Last week volunteers turned out all over Austin to count homeless people. We looked everywhere, in cars, parks, creeks, down little paths behind grocery stores, and even in ritzy neighborhoods. It's invasive, certainly, but without counting as many people as we can, funding is cut.

All in all, we counted 1700 homeless people. We didn't get them all, the homeless are good at hiding, most don't want to be found, they could be anywhere, in your neighborhood even. I saw some on my run Saturday morning, sleeping by the lake in puffy sleeping bags, peaceful as could be. I see them on my run through my neighborhood, too.

There was some concern among my friends that counting the homeless is dangerous work. I guess that is the fear of the unknown, the devil you don't know. It isn't dangerous. I know quite a few homeless people and I'm not threatening, and I'm not afraid. Traffic, shopping malls, litterbugs, and people with big egos scare me, not homeless people.

We came bearing socks, thick, white tube socks. When we were someplace we knew someone was sleeping, an alley, a church patio, a hidden area behind a store, we left socks they could find later, a little surprise.

I ran into some old friends who promised to come and see me on Wednesday, but I didn't find that one friend that I keep looking for. I haven't seen J.P. since last Christmas Eve. He disappeared, no one has seen him in months. Before he was homeless J.P. was a photographer. When we became friends, I'd bring my camera and after my shift we'd go out and take pictures together. He could read the light, no meter necessary. "Try a F8 at 11." "This looks like an F16 to me."

I still miss him.