Take Shelter...

I walked past this sign on a construction barricade on Mission Street the other day, just a few blocks from my house.

It was 9:00 AM on a Saturday, and I was running to the BART station. I was late to meet my college roommate, her husband, and six-month-old baby. The whole family was in town from Michigan, and we’d planned a “super San Francisco experience!” day. Only problem was I had a wicked hangover from a super San Francisco experience the night before, if you know what I mean…

So I was feeling less than sharp. In fact, my eyes were doing that thing where they don’t quite track right – that’s how hungover I was. I had to stop my shower, get out, and eat a nectarine to stop myself from barfing – THAT’S HOW HUNGOVER I WAS.

Man, I’m never having a “girl’s night” again.

Anyway…

What I’m trying to say is, I had one mission on Mission that morning: get to the BART, and don’t barf. Well, I guess that’s two missions… So for me to stop and take this picture means these words really struck a chord, somewhere in the depths of my alcohol-soaked soul. It took at least two minutes for me to get my camera out of my bag, people. I could have EASILY barfed on the street during that time. Like a lot of – dare I say? – homeless people do on Mission Street.

So that brings me to my point…

We’re not so different, are we? Those of us homeys, and those of us homeless? I thought this was an incredibly powerful statement. How true – since when did it become a crime to go without? Of course, some of the people on our streets here in San Francisco and elsewhere ARE criminals, but to believe they all are is… is…

WTF?

You lose your job, you lose your home – okay, maybe you’re an alcoholic (I’m certainly not gonna judge you there) – and then before you know it, your house is gone, too. In this day and age, I think we all need to admit it’s not that hard to imagine. Every stupid morning news magazine is talking about the skyrocketing foreclosure rate in America.

And THEN – you’re somehow a criminal because of it. You’re doing something wrong by being on the street.

The point is, there are many, many paths that lead to the street. But we’re so quick to lump those people out there together into one category: BAD PEOPLE. And how funny: they’re bad, because we have more than they do. They should all go away. They should all get out of our neighborhoods because they’re scary and they drive the property values down and they must be about to rob us.

Even though yesterday they might have been our neighbors.

Does anyone else think this is nutso?

And, does anyone else think they intentionally papered this statement next to the poster for the band called ANIMOSITY?

Words.

Love ‘em.

I love seeing them combined like this, whether intentionally or not. They ARE just building blocks, after all… We use them for shelter as much as we do the roofs over our heads…