The Lady with the Cat
Every work day, I walk past the little dining section of Union Station. At the early hour, the tables and chairs are more likely to be used by tired travelers and homeless people, than people dining.
Every time I pass that area, I look for the lady with the cat. She sits with all of her bags around the table, but always has a special bag on the chair next to her, that has her cat sitting in it. He’s a big tiger cat, with mangy fur. She’s usually talking to him. And he’s usually looking right at her.
I wish I had an actual picture of the cat, but I will use this Simon’s Cat pic instead.
For some reason, it really intrigues me that a homeless person has a CAT. Does this cat follow her around all day? Does she carry it around in an open top bag all day?
Yes, these are my deep thoughts this particular Tuesday.
Every time I see her, I think about all of the homeless people in Rome who had dogs. Most of them did. They use pets to gain sympathy from tourists (like how this cat is catching my attention) but most don’t actually treat the animals very well. In fact, Rome officials encouraged people not to give money to the homeless who had dogs, because the dogs are so abused.
I’m so cynical/bitchy/jaded/unsympathetic, that when I see a homeless person here, I don’t give it a second thought. I don’t feel any sorrow or remorse for them. Especially because I see the same people, every day I’m downtown, in the same spots. Of course, I keep thinking about that cat. Is he well fed? Is he happy? Is he healthy? What is wrong with me? See, this is why they have pets… because of saps like me.
I would really like to understand the homeless problem better. I would like to not be so cynical/bitchy/jaded/unsympathetic. I remember taking a sociology class in college, and learning a lot of interesting facts about why people are homeless. Of course, I don’t remember what any of those are…
Themocracy
There was a homeless man who lived near my workplace in college. I always wanted to do something for him — Big Macs and bottled water — but always wondered why exactly he was homeless.
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Maybe the cat is just company for her. It’s possible that he follows her around and they share what they have. There are a lot of reasons people are homeless — financial problems, mental health issues, etc. I contribute money to organizations that help serve the poor and homeless and don’t give money to individual people most of the time. It seems safer and more likely to really help.
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You know, don’t feel bad. E. and I had these conversations at length*. There are so, SO many homeless people in Chicago that if you gave money to or stopped and felt sad about every single one you passed…well, you’d be broke and probably totally unable to function.
Which is not to say we should just sweep it under the rug. But it’s a very convoluted problem that there’s no easy solution to.
I heard a statistic once that 80% of the homeless are mentally ill. That was before the big recession, but I would believe it. Without a family or medical care, it would be very easy to find oneself in that state.
Oh, and I always feel bad for the pets too. I once saw a lady talking to a homeless person and offering to take the homeless person’s cat to a shelter!
*E. gave out papers with information on shelters, job assistance programs, and 2 quarters taped to the page for the person to make a phone call. Usually people were receptive, though too often he’d see the same person on the corner over and over again anyway.
Yes, many of the people who are homeless are mentally ill. Or drug addicts. And it’s certainly a vicious circle (how are you supposed to get a job when you have no address, no place to shower, no clean clothes, no reliable transportation or money for it). But I’m sure there are some of them that don’t mind being homeless. It’s probably a struggle for them, but maybe they like not having to answer to a boss. Not having to worry about bills. Just doing what they do.
After I read The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls I have a different perspective on homelessness. I’m sure some of it is greatly exaggerated, but it’s at least eye-opening.
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I could have written this post because I think the same way. When I was in Greece I was amazed at all the dogs that are homeless and peopleless. I think homeless people have pets for the same reason the rest of us do. We’re looking for love and acceptance by another warm being that does not sit in judgement of us but instead thinks we are the most wonderful human beings in the world.,
We don’t have a visible homeless issue in my tiny town, but it breaks my heart to think about people living in their cars, etc. There was a time we were paycheck to paycheck and if anything catastrophic had happened and we didn’t have family it could EASILY have happened….
I think homeless people have pets for the same reason we do. Love.
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I think you’d be surprised by who the homeless really are. Sure, there are some who are drug addicts, alcoholics, schizophrenics, criminals … the stereotype is there for a reason. But, there are families struggling to make ends meet. Business men who lost everything. Very educated people. When I see a homeless person with a pet, I have more sympathy than not … because I know how loved I feel by my pet … maybe that’s the only love they feel.
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Man, speaking of Chicago’s homeless population, I definitely offered to buy a man some food (I won’t give money, but I will give food.) when I was at McDonald’s. He really took advantage of me, I think. He asked for just a sandwich and then when I was ordering for him, he butted in and told to the employee that he wanted a drink and fries with it, and instead of a drink he wanted a shake, and also he wanted cookies. I turned to him and said, “Wait, didn’t you just want the sandwich?” and he just blew me off and said, “It’s not that much more, it’s okay!” In the end, it was a lot more because I racked up a $10 charge on one person at McDonald’s, which is quite a bit for fast food. I think he tried to sweet talk me then by telling me what a beautiful girl I was, which made me mad because (1) it didn’t want to make me buy him more food and (2) it always comes with a creepy undertone of “You’re exotic.”
I guess, in the end, it doesn’t matter. I hope I gave him something to enjoy for a few hours.
Wow, long rant. Whoops.
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I hear ya… the pets always get to me. But it’s interesting that she has a cat. I’d be afraid of losing it or something.
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I think I saw the homeless person with a cat near Union Station this evening. Was he/she orange and somewhat stripey? I wound up buying some sardines and cat food — I figured just giving a few dollars might not have resulted in much for the cat. I couldn’t relocate them, though. I suppose the cat could be in a much better situation … but probably could be worse (for the cat) — he/she seemed somewhat at ease with the homeless person. Hopefully they have a nice drug den with lots of fat mice.
Hi Clem, I tried to send you an email, but it didn’t go through! Here’s what I said:
That’s him! I saw them a few weeks ago together on the Adams street entry. =
Is that where you saw them?
I have been thinking about buying them food too. Your drug den comment crac=
ked me up!
Thanks for commenting!