The Story of Gene

For hangouts, he turned to McDonald’s, public libraries and, for a while, the emergency department at New York Methodist Hospital. There, in the waiting room, groups of homeless people — white like Gene, and every other hue of humanity — watched the television. “Any place with a public bathroom,” he said.

He used an old laptop to download television shows and movies. “That’s what kept me sane,” he said. “It centered me. One of the first things that happen, people lose respect for themselves.”

He paused: “What bothered me was the lack of respect other people had. They don’t know you, and they don’t respect you.”

When his unemployment benefits ran out, he occasionally collected bottles and cans to get the nickel deposits. “Plastic and cans are best — the bottles are heavy,” he said. “It meant I had some money so I could wash clothes.”

The people he met on the streets were far from drug-addled, he said. “There’s no way you can be a substance abuser and not have any money,” he said. “Once in a while, they’ll have some beer. To feel a little better about themselves. To feel human.” He said he had an occasional beer himself.

At a soup kitchen on Fourth Avenue, he made a few friends, he said, but most people were very guarded. When he gave one man a tip about Sunday dinners, the man repaid him by telling him about a church that offered use of a shower once a week.

In a series of recent conversations, Gene was cheerful, seemingly unfazed by his circumstances. It helped that he avoided family or old friends, he said.
[...]
On a walk through the neighborhood, he passed the soup kitchen where he had often eaten. Was he going to stop for lunch?

He shook his head.

“I’m on the other side now,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/04/nyregion/making-the-journey-from-menace-to-neighbor-all-on-one-brooklyn-block.html?_r=0