Thoughts from James Robertson Parkway

Last Monday I had off work for Columbus Day (but really it was to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month). I went on a run, did some yoga in the backyard, started a new Barbara Brown Taylor book, did a little laundry, and finally decided in the afternoon to leave the house. I had some credit at McKays (a huge used bookstore), and I wanted to look for a book on photography so I headed out, trying to avoid interstates since it was rush hour.

This took me through downtown via James Robertson Parkway. As I was crossing the river downtown I slowed down for a stop light... and a pedestrian in the right lane who was stumbling and had dropped his backpack. He looked drunk, and, by the looks of his clothes and disheveled appearance, very possibly homeless. He was starting to get over to the side of the bridge where there is a sidewalk when a young guy in a blue pick-up pulled up too fast. As I was looking in my rear-view mirror I saw the young guy slam on his breaks but not in time to avoid the man. The guy in the pick-up sped up and drove through the red light just as it turned green. When I looked back at the man he was standing, but bent over on the side of the bridge.

I drove through the green light and took the first right so I could circle back around and see if he was ok and then I don't know what I would have done, but I turned right and it just happened to be right where the police headquarters is. So I pulled over on the side of the road and flagged down a cop. I explained to him what had happened, but I left out the detail that the man who got hit looked homeless. I was shaking and obviously upset, and the police officer was really nice, but when I finally did tell him that the guy was drunk and then that I thought he maybe looked homeless he said he would "call it in." I know he was following protocol, but he didn't seem too worried that I had just seen a person get hit by a car, especially when I eventually did tell him that the man looked homeless and drunk. I was so frustrated... the man was literally less than a minute's jog away, just around the corner, and the police officer called it in so that someone could "go check it out."

That whole conversation probably just took about 5 minutes, so I circled back around to the bridge, but the man was gone, and then I got a call about an hour later from the police officer who went to check it out saying that he heard I had seemed upset so he just wanted to let me know that they hadn't seen anything.

So I'm hoping that means that he could walk and go find help. Even though his access to health-care is probably limited.

One of my housemates works at the Room in the Inn, a day shelter and community center for homeless people in downtown Nashville. When I told her about what had happened that day, she said that homeless people get hit by cars pretty frequently. Just another statistic that is a reality for many of our neighbors that I have never thought about because I never had to.

So this past week I've been trying to educate myself more about the issues surrounding homelessness, from hate crimes to health care. I was especially interested in the health-care issue as I was thinking about the man I saw on Monday. I read that "many homeless people who are ill and need treatment do not ever receive medical care. Barriers to health care include lack of knowledge about where to get treated, lack of access to transportation, and lack of identification. Psychological barriers also exist, such as embarrassment, nervousness about filling out the forms and answering questions properly, and self-consciousness about appearance and hygiene when living on the streets. The most common obstacle to health care is the cost." (info comes from the National Coalition for the Homeless)

I guess I knew that... I mean, it's pretty common sense, but it's amazing how much I can not think about things like the hardships faced by people who live right in my neighborhood. It's no wonder I/we allow things like genocide and massive deforestation to happen in places and to people I don't see every day since I am so good at ignoring the suffering right in front of me.