The Invisible Man
November 16, 2024 at 05:13AMPatrick Fealey was a journalist and art critic until manic depression disabled him and his promising career 27 years ago. He still writes every day. But now he does it in the same place he sleeps: his car. Because Patrick Fealey is unhoused. Thankfully, he remains thoughtful and introspective, and his long feature in Esquire is as clear as it is gutting. Hopefully the check from this feature helps him get back into permanent housing. If only it could do the same for the 650,000 other people suffering from homelessness in this country.
The definition of homeless is we have no home, no place to go. If “I think, therefore I am” is true, we are people who are. We are, and we stand on this ground. If you deny us ground, you are denying us our “I am.” Isn’t that negation of our existence? We are here and we are you and we are yours.
Many of you could be where we are—on the street—but for some simple and not uncommon twist of fate. This is part of your rejection, this fear that it could be you. You deny that reality because it is too horrific to contemplate, therefore you must deny us. And the moneyed reject us because they know they create us, that we are a consequence of their impulse to accumulate more than they need, rooted in a fear of life and the death that comes with it. Nothing good comes of fear, only destruction, and America has become a society of fear, much of that fear cultivated to divide and control.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2024/11/15/the-invisible-man/
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