He said the world would be a much better place if there were more love.
“ I was raised to treat others as I would like to be treated. I was never raised to have racism or hatred in me. If people would reach out more and trust more –I know it’s hard to trust in this day and age, but if people would trust a little more and give a little more, the world would be a better place.”
Norris said people take life for granted.
“Tomorrow’s not guaranteed. I might not wake up in the morning. I might not get to where I’m going after I talk with you here. But I have a strong belief in God. That’s what keeps me moving today. Without that, I don’t think I would even be sitting here.”
(Norris’ emphasis on personal choice (last 4 quoted paragraphs) , instead of societal causes of homelessness and poverty—a key difference between politically conservative and liberal ideology— might be worth further inquiry.)
“ I came to Columbus in 2000. I was a chef for Cameron Mitchell and the head sous chef for Smith and Wollensky. I had a bad accident in 2009 on my motorcycle and have been disabled ever since. I’ve been in and out of nursing homes and right now I’m homeless. I broke my pelvis and got a herniated disk in my back. And as you see, I got a big thing on my leg. I’ve been passing out for the last 3 days and they don’t know why. Just come from the hospital today. I got 3 stitches in my head.”
Norris said the he had not eaten in two days since being released from Mount Carmel.
“I had a cheeseburger, French fries and macaroni and cheese, to be exact.”
He said he planned to sleep outside and that being physically disabled makes him more vulnerable.
“There’s a church across the street from Grant Hospital, caddy corner. I’m going to lay on those steps so I’ll be safe. I know there’s security around.”
Like others, Norris said he never thought he would be homeless.
“ I had scholarships for football. And the Olympics the United States boycotted, I went to those trials for track. I ran the 100 and the 220. That’s what took me to the AAU junior Olympics. But I didn’t get a chance to participate because of the boycott. I would never dream I’d be here today where I’m sitting right now, in this situation. It never crossed my mind. But here I am.”
He said he lost his housing in January.
“ I had a nice place. I let a friend live there while I was in the hospital. They did some things that weren’t approved in my complex, low and behold, without me knowing it, and I got kicked out from the apartment while I was in the hospital. I had nothing to do with it. Now here I am. To this day, I’ve just never been able to get back on my feet because of my health problems. I caught pneumonia and had a blood clot in my lung.”
He said he has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
“ I just got out of Minerva Park Nursing Home about 2 months ago. They put me in there to try to get my breathing better. I need another operation on my back. My L-4 disk is pressing against a nerve in my spine and now it’s causing me to lose function in my left side. They say I may wake up and never be able to walk. So, I’m trying to do what I got to do to get settled so I can have this surgery.”
Norris said he would rather be on the streets than in a shelter.
“I know that sounds crazy to some people, but the things that go on there—they’re not all bad—but with some of the things that happen there, I’d rather just take my chances where I’m at out here in the streets.”
He said he would like to have a job, even though he’s not able to work as a chef anymore.
“I’m on disability, so the employment would have to be only a few hours. But I would love to work, anything that would get me back on my feet. I don’t want to take from society. I’m trying to give to society, because I believe that’s the only way this economy will get back on its feet. It’s in a real bad situation now.”
He said the upcoming election involves a lot of backbiting.
“We’re never going to get forward like that or get out of this deficit. Trillions and trillions of dollars of deficit. It won’t get fixed the way things are going.”
He said the solution would involve politicians and the rest of the country joining together.
“I believe Barack Obama and Mitt Romney both want to see America succeed. Who doesn’t ? This is where you and your children live. This is the greatest country in the world. But we have to come together. But it’s never going to happen, because the world is not meant to be joined together. In the beginning, it was meant to be joined together, but for some reason now, the way society has happened since day one, it’s never going to be like that.”
By this, he was alluding to a Biblical idea of a more pure state for humanity
“When God created this world, it was with love. But look around you. How much love do you see? Like I told you, I haven’t ate since I got out of the hospital two days ago. But I if walked up to tell somebody that, they would think all I want is a handout. I don’t want that. I just want anything that can help me do better for myself. But if you get hungry enough, you’ll do anything, man.”
Norris said the loneliness of being on the streets is tough.
“I come from a big family. You get an ache in your heart when you’re out here and you see people walking with their families and enjoying life. It brings tears to my eyes because I want that so much. I want to be with somebody, not necessarily to help me or anything, but just companionship. When you’re with yourself everyday, all day, just the thoughts that go thru your mind and the things you go thru, well, loneliness can take you out of here.”
He said everybody needs somebody.
“Just like you stopping here and talking with me today. You don’t know what that means to me. God only knows what brought me thru that fence right now. But I walked thru it. It had to be him that lead me thru the fence to this back porch where we’re sitting now. I just saw the gate open and walked back here.”
He said he hasn’t asked family for help.
“I wouldn’t want them to see me in this situation. I’m too ashamed of myself. Friends—who wants to be around someone who’s broke? When you have nothing, you can’t help nobody else in this city. It’s hard to trust somebody and I know from the bottom of my heart that when I got nothing I lost every friend I had. Well, they called themselves my friends.”
Norris said he became destitute while applying for disability benefits.
“It took me 3 and ½ years to get it. I was in a nursing home for 2 years. I couldn’t walk for 17 months and they denied me for more than 3 years. I had great stuff, man, but I lost all of it, including my friends. When they (friends) see you depleted and you can’t help pitch in doing whatever it is they’re doing, they slip away after a while. Maybe they really weren’t friends in the first place. You find out who your true friends are, sir, when you fall into a situation like this. They’re few and far between.”
Norris said he doesn’t have true friends in Columbus.
“In the 14 years I’ve been here, there’s probably one person I could call up right now to help me and that would be nothing but maybe to take a shower at their house. It wouldn’t even be to give me something to eat.”
He said he spent 20 years in prison after fatally shooting a man when he caught him raping his (Norris’) teenage niece. He did not relate to the idea that incarceration increases someone’s risk for being homeless.
“I really don’t believe there’s a connection there. It’s what you want to do with your life that matters. Everybody has an opportunity, man. It’s what you make of that opportunity. You have to try. You have to put a foot forward. If you take one step forward, God will take two. I honestly believe that. But there are so many people that don’t try.”
Norris said he is not criticizing everyone who is homeless.
“But there are so many that don’t try, they’ve messed it up for everybody else. And they put a lot of people in a bad situation. They’ve misused the system so bad. The government has spent mad money trying to do this and that for the homeless. Don’t get me wrong. Don’t stop helping the homeless, please. There’s children, women, and men too out there that need help.”
Norris said he was 17 when he went to prison.
“I was scared. But then I came to a point where an old man told me, ‘You can do one of two things. You can go into that cell and curl up and die or you can get up and stand on your own two feet and become a man and make something of yourself.’”
He said he rehabilitation can work.
“But you rehabilitate yourself. The system doesn’t do it for you. So, I chose to go to school and take advantage of the programs in there. It was what the system offered me. You have to take advantage of what they give you, but they will let you curl up and die if that’s what you choose to do. I choose not to.”
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