When I first ran this story on October 26, 2011, I had the intention of disguising my identity until the last or 31st day. In retrospect that would have been a HUGE mistake. Although ALL of the information below has been presented in a CREATIVLY TRUTHFUL manner, the EXPANDED TRUTH is that I,
*More Information can be found on Dan Getz and Dance4One at www.Dance4One.blogspot.com OR by FOLLOWING @Dance4One on TWITTER or FACEBOOK. Names with asterisks may or may not have been changed for this story.
By Dan Getz, Blogger
When I met up with Joe* approximately 16 months ago, I found him under a bridge near one of the DART stations helping a family who had lost nearly everything, save a tent, a LOT of clothes, cooking utensils, several pets (including a rabbit in a cage), and several other assorted “survival-type” items. Although Joe quickly informed me that he had just lost his job, himself, he shared with me part of this family’s story. There was a father, a mother, a 19 year old son and I believe a brother of the wife, and then that brother’s wife (sister-in-law) of the mother.
Joe told me that he had met the mother a few weeks earlier pan-handling at an intersection maybe a mile south from where we were at. It was the middle of the summer in Texas
Lori, though obviously hungry, was more than eager to talk and explain herself, very much like an accused man or women insisting on their innocence. In fact, “She talked so much, Joe said, “I had to gently remind her that ‘It was okay. We could talk later, but right now it was important to eat, and listen to what I had to tell her.’” “What I had to tell her” Joe said, “was that I did not blame her in anyway, and although I was limited as to the extent I could help her (because, as you know I had recently become unemployed myself), I had several practical ideas of how I might be able to help, if she would just eat and listen.”
And that’s about where I left Joe the last time I saw him, approximately 16 months ago, UNTIL I ran into him at a Starbucks in North Dallas recently…I said, “Hey Joe, is that YOU. Do you remember me? I’m that guy that…
And Joe said, in the same overtly positive and optimistic tone he had carried throughout our several weeks of communication and interaction many months earlier, “Yeah, Yeah…I remember…Do you know what I just bought? It’s a 31 day Regional Pass for DART…I lost my motorcycle to the bank a couple weeks ago…I’m unemployed again…but I do still have a little in the bank and a car and apartment. So I figure I’m gonna learn the WHOLE DART SYSTEM NOW…while I’ve got a little “breathing room”, and hopefully find some work through my writing, blogging and travels on the DART system before the end of my 31 day pass.”
And so…this is JOE’s story…
To Be Continued (in 31 ADDITIONAL segments)…
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