and I am in a cab going from one early appointment to the next. I am at a stop light. I look over to my right, where this enormous patch of land is cordoned off by chain-link fence, ready for Steve Wynn or somebody to build the next $2 billion-dollar hotel complex and I see this rustling on the corner, right next to this fence.
A guy pushes back some blankets and gets up and it hits me that he slept there. He was maybe 50, with grey hair, kind of wiry build. And he moves his backpack out from under the blanket, where I presume he was keeping it maybe wrapped around his ankle for safekeeping. And then what did he do? He made his bed.
Something about the sight of that was the loneliest feeling in the whole world. Safety is a chain-link fence on one side of you. And dignity is taking the time to smooth out and fold up the blankets that keep you warm during a wintery desert night.
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