Since I came to the United States, I have been always interested to know about homeless people's lives (out of 50% curiosity + 50% desire to help) and I have taken chances to get to know them. This is one of the episodes.

It was near downtown San Francisco, when I saw an old woman with gray hair crying for help. She had a huge plastic bag filled with garment she needed to carry. From her appearance, I could tell that she was homeless. I was curious, so I offered my help. There had been also an event previous evening that made me feel...defeated, so I wanted to do something...random.

She said it was only a block away, but it turns out that I had to carry that really heavy bag for 4-5 blocks.

According to her, she used to be a nurse working for a major hospital in San Francisco. She discovered that the hospital was doing something unethical, so she confronted them...then she got fired and soon lost her house. She also seemed to have difficulty walking normally.

We eventually got to some kind of shelter and dropped her stuff. She then took me to what she called, "the most dangerous street in the city" and introduced me to her friends. One of them was a woman, probably in her 30s. She mentioned that her sister had been shot and died the previous week. I first didn't believe what I heard because she looked completely calm, but from the context of her conversation, I could tell that she was telling the truth. I realized I was in a different world I have never known.

The old woman asked if she could use my cell phone. To be very honest, I was worried about her germs, but I couldn't say it to her, of course...so I handed my bulky Nokia phone to her.

That's basically end of the story. She thanked me and I left.