Homeless Guy on our Soi

There’s a homeless guy on my soi. He never cuts his hair. Never gets angry. Never wears a shirt, except when the Thai “winter” requires it. Sometimes he talks to himself but he never talks to me. In more than three years of living on this soi, I have passed him hundreds of times, but he has never asked me for a single baht. We have never even made eye contact. But I know him and I’m sure he knows me.

He is a proud guy who clearly does not want to be judged or bossed around. His motto seems to be: don’t bother me, and I won’t bother you. For two years he just peaceably slept on the asphalt under the highway and never bothered anybody. Obviously, he was getting food from somewhere because he’s not skinny. Thailand is full of food. Even the dogs do pretty well.

Then, one day, he suddenly acquired a motorbike! We don’t know where he got it, but it has a trailer, too. It was talked about for days: have you seen, the homeless guy has a motorbike? Now, he gets stuck in traffic, which always seems odd, because where does he need to go?

Tonight, I got stuck in traffic, too, which was odd, because I was walking. But our soi was clogged up. Who did it? The homeless guy and his motorbike with its trailer! And I noticed: the trailer is FULL of stuff: all neatly wrapped in plastic sheets, but piles and piles of stuff!

I want to ask him: is life better now that you have accumulated all this stuff?