Thursday, June 6, 2019

Stairway to heaven?


Nah, this isn't heaven. It's Huntington, West Virginia. Or #almostheaven

But it was nice to be able to go from the river bank back up the hill on this organic, sustainable, non-GMO staircase.


My thanks to whoever discovered this and all those over the years who have kept it up through constant use.

Campsite on the river bank


This morning while I was down on the Ohio River bank getting photos of the M/V Nancy Sturgis, I saw this. It looks like the remains of a homeless person's camp, although it could be a temporary shelter for a local fisherman, now abandoned.


It would not surprise me if this were an abandoned homeless camp. At this particular place, I've found what otherwise would be a perfectly good sleeping bag if it hadn't been left exposed to weather and high water, and I've found a shopping cart (or buggy, as my wife calls it) from a store 27 blocks away.

I have no proof any of this is from a homeless person, but the homeless tend to gather on the river bank here as elsewhere. I wondered about the sleeping bag — who bought it and why; if a person was trying to help a homeless person but the homeless person didn't care, or if he simply abandoned it for some reason; and if so, does it do that much good to go out of your way to help.

I say the last part because burnout is not uncommon among people I know who volunteer time and money to help the less fortunate. Sometimes they walk away because they feel they've been taking advantage of. Sometimes they just have to move on to other things.

Anyway, those are the thoughts this sight brought to my mind.