Let me tell you a story. A sad story that is unfortunately true. A story that is replacing the planned post due to it's potency. A story that I shall now begin...

It all begins in the Merry Hill branch of Sainsbury's, where whilst scouting the aisles for my mother, I notice what looks like a young man crying down by the alcoholic beverages. I thought nothing of it and continued my scoutage.

We finished our shopping and exited the supermarket, heading for the car. After putting all the shopping in the boot, the doors were unlocked and I got in. It was at this point that mother noticed someone lying down on the grass verge at the side of the road. She went over to investigate, whilst I stay and listen to my newly purchased CD. After a short time, I look through the back window and see that mum is still with the person, identifiable as a man, and has been joined by a gaggle of girls. I exit the care with growing concern.

As I had suspected, as I gradually got closer to the scene, I saw it was the very same man that had been crying inside the store. He was still sobbing away.

The eldest of the gaggle produced a mobile phone and dialed 999, asking for an ambulance. Don't know why, he didn't need an ambulance; he needed a place to stay. It was distressing to say the least, I could feel my eyes welling up.

Whilst waiting for said ambulance, we asked why he was in such a state to which he replied that he had been homeless for around a month, and he was freezing cold. This is understandable, these are some of the coldest nights of the year.

He'd been kicked out of a hostel for playing his music too loud. When asked what music, he told us "Prodigy" a band that I am proud to say are also one of my favourites of all time.

It was around this time that the ambulance finally arrived. Out popped two female paramedics. They asked what the problem is and pretty much said "fuck him." I was pissed to say the least, they didn't seem to give a shit whatsoever. He may not have been visibly ill or injured, but he was definitely unstable. Living on the street must really mess up your mind, and it showed.

The gaggle left, shortly followed by the ambulance. We stayed with him, just so we could try and help him, even just a little bit.

We spoke. He was obviously screwed in the head. He kept on about brain-death, and how we shouldn't let our brain be destroyed before we die, or we will cease to exist. If we keep our minds in one piece when we die, we will live on in our heads for eternity. This is because for 4 or 5 seconds after we die, the processes in our brain continue, in a dream like state. And a I'm sure many of you know, or should know, time in the dream world is completely irrelevant to time in the real world...

Philosophical, no?

We swapped names. This man's name was Russell and he was a star... I will never forget him. He said I was an intelligent and very handsome boy. He tried to give me the Prodigy CD he had in his coat pocket, I quickly refused. It could be the only possession he has and I would not be able to take that from him and feel right about it. Russell said that I ought to go and see Doom the movie, and I plan to... Simply to honour this poor, poor soul. He gave me his used ticket for Doom. I ripped it in half so that we had half each, I plan to always remember him, and hope that I affected him somehow in a positive way.

He said we had lives to live, but I refused to leave him until he was better. He seemed to appreciate it and said he was in a much better mood. Eventually, we parted. I called after him "Take care, live long, and Merry Christmas."

He responded by waving and saying "I hope you live long, Happy Christmas"

The encounter raised one question: "How did he have money to buy CDs and cinema tickets?"

This question can be answered like so: Maybe, he had money from people like us helping him out, but due to the way being homeless has screwed up his mind he has no idea what he is doing with his money. He needs help and no one is willing to give it.

Russell isn't a special case. There are so many people like him out there that it is getting out of control. They need to be helped. Soon.

N.B. There have been many details left from this post. Please don't make brash judgments based purely on this poorly written article.

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