In Seattle, the city I adore most, I find that the variety of people that walk about the streets hardly pay attention to the homeless community. People tend to look straight ahead of them as they walk rather than paying mind to the people sitting against the walls on top of newspapers, blankets, and their own jackets.

I spent a day with a group last week looking for the homeless in the city streets, specifically around Pioneer Square and near the stadium that hosts the Seattle Seahawks. With all of them, we shared greetings and smiles. With fewer we shared water bottles and sandwiches. With only a couple, we shared conversations, whether it was about their lives or where they were headed after being forced out of the homeless camps.

The attitude of every person was different. They all reacted differently toward us as we carried our cameras and offered them refreshments.

Often they didn't take the sandwiches we offered them because they'd just eaten, but I also couldn’t help but think that some of them thought our offerings were a simple way to get them to comply to us as they saw the cameras and thought we were nothing more than trouble from the media.
Some of them eyed us in distrust. On one occasion, we were stopped and surrounded by homeless just outside of a shelter, asked if we were lost, why we were there, and why we were there running around like lost tourists.
A tall gentleman stood on top of the staircase near an exit of one of the shelters just off the highway and said, "Oh hey look out; they have cameras. Watch out for trouble!" He then chuckles and grins at us as. We said that we were from a newspaper and were interviewing the homeless.
"I've been homeless all my life!" He laughs. He points to the socks on his shoeless feet, "Just look at this!"

Bobby Gibson was ready to share a smile as he sat, perched in his chair and clasping the cane in his hand. He seemed to be on guard, waiting… “He is sleeping,” he gestured behind him, “The guy has been drinking a lot lately.”
We all shared sad looks.

“It can get dangerous out here in the streets.” He told us about a man who slashed all of the tents with a knife and a woman getting killed in the last couple of weeks.

“We look out for each other here,” he added with a curt nod. "These people all around here are like my family," he gestures to the surrounding tents littered along the sidewalk. "One of the kids here works at a bakery and even gives us some food."

Mark was alert and very open to talk about his opinion of where our economy was headed. His eyes were wide and round. Awake. As he was offered a sandwich and water, he sat down, eager to talk with us.

"The deficit in this country can never be repaid. Your children, your children’s children, will never be able to pay it." He continued talking about the economy and politics.
"The only reason our dollar is worth anything is because it is the world's standard; we keep printing and printing money every day," he shakes his head.
"We are already becoming a third world country. Sure we have a strong military, but China is becoming stronger. We are in denial. We are stuck in a side show. We are falling asleep, this country is. One day we are going to wake up in martial law. They're taking away guns and once martial law takes place the president will become in power for life. Everything is being eroded away and one day we will wake up with nothing."

Leonard Mayo, the program manager of Bread of Life Mission, talked with us about his solution to the growing problem of homeless people in the Seattle community. The faith based shelter for the homeless is a sanctuary for drug free people to stay. For eight hours of work a day, homeless people have a bed to sleep in, a way to wash clothing, prepared meals, showers, and daily sermons of the gospel. The work involves anything from doing the dishes to housekeeping to keep the sanctuary running.

"There is a lot of rough in our community. To alleviate the problem, getting the community involved can help. There are buildings for shelters, but we need home services so the homeless don't stay stuck there in the shelters begging. We need a solution and to find jobs and to make people work for what they earn.
"Wherever you look around people are building so why don't we use some of our money in the community rather than in the construction? The government doesn't do anything, but the people and the community can."

Each attitude of every person we had conversations with were different. Some found joy in the midst of the way they were forced to live. Others talked of the sorrows of the failing country. Others just went on about their lives and didn't think much of it. The few people that were willing to talk with the team I served with on that hot afternoon were friendly, open, and very thankful to be given the opportunity to talk with us.