New Friends XXXIX

I felt better the second morning after the race, I stood in the shower for twenty minutes before bed in an attempt to relax my muscles. I opened the curtains and looked out over the Atlantic, it was beautiful and I was relieved my view wasn't of the city. Atlantic City is weird, if you stay on the boardwalk or in the casinos then it seems like a resort that is far removed from the poverty just across the street. The contrast of money over just a few blocks is shocking; dozens of homeless people when you look right and millions of dollars in yachts if you look left. I never used to talk to homeless people, well I wouldn't seek them out, but I would buy a coffee here or give a dollar there but more as a way to keep myself moving away from them. I spent a decade working with federal offenders in the community, at risk youth and a very large homeless population and now I don't really see a difference between where they are and where I am. Truly we are all just a few supports away from losing it all, some of us born into situations that gave us a better start, others born into extreme poverty left to find their own way out, many with undiagnosed mental health issues while others were left behind whether due to addiction or a bad run of luck. People avoid them and pretend to not see them, but I can't, and quite honestly I won't.

I remember walking through Port Authority on several occasions and needing directions of which bus to take, or where the bus to the airport is and each time it was a homeless person who led me in the right direction, not even the paid workers knew as much as these people. I was impressed with how much they knew, they have literally created a job for themselves and are very relevant to New York. I look around Atlantic City and can feel the hopelessness in the air, they don't have the massive tourism industry and are kept away from the Casinos, which is the only place for people who don't live there to go and visit.

I turned around to see Joseph with a cup of coffee for me and a tea for him, "want to go for brunch?" I was famished and woke in the middle of the night to a growling stomach, "yes please". I packed up and grabbed the complimentary bottles of water from both rooms and made a mental note to hand them out along with a couple of bucks or some food once we left the 'safety' of the casinos.