Almost 25 years ago, when I lived with my family in Walnut Chreek CA, I was always surprised at the difference between rich and poor. Very sad foto!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Such a sad ordeal for many like him.

Our city keeps closing make shift homeless camps.

Hey I've seen that guy hanging out in Firestone boulevard

That would be "on" Firestone Boulevard. And yes, that was on the sidewalk abutting that particular street.

My question : why he is poor? Maybe because of psychological problems; this is the most difficult to solve. We have lost our community spirit. That situation makes each one feel isolated and unable to trust anybody. Whom can he trust to get effective help; how can we trust if our help will ends into disaster? I do not have an easy answer, but that photo is great to make us explore into the depth of our times, our values, and especially into ourselves.

This photo tells a lot about inner suffering, alone. It is a great, tells=it-all photo.

In all big city the same problem

It's a sad situation with no easy answers. Less than a half-mile from me is a group of these folks living under a bridge where I-70 crosses Sterling Ave. The city runs them out and cleans up the mess they leave every couple months or so. Within a week, they're back.

It's one of those situations where you wonder what to do, or what can be done. If you give each one of them a 20-dollar bill, will it help? Or will it get spent on a bottle or two of cheap booze at the liquor store a few blocks away? Would they even be willing to accept help if it was offered - I mean REAL help, not just supplying the means for a dollar dog at Quick Trip and a bottle of Thunderbird.

Your photos of the abandoned footwear and sad individuals like this tell a sad tale, and one with no quick fixes or easy answers.

It's very sad that people live like this.

I deal with the homeless and the 'Nutritionally Challenged' on a daily basis. (read very hungry as minimum wage just barely covers rent and utilities and maybe some medication, leaving not too much for food.) And now Georgia Pacific closed the paper mill, cutting 300 + jobs I've seen an uptick of new clients. Some are homeless by choice, others by circumstances. You just don't know. Tragic picture of our times

Some fine responses here. Before I speak to the shot, just a personal note: I worked with homeless shelters over the years, and, as Mike suggests, the homeless come there from choice as well as circumstance; and they come from all walks of life. This man may have had money at one time---I was amazed to find out how many homeless people had lost a decent lifestyle, and lost everything, sometimes from drink or drugs, sometimes from depression, sometimes from awful fortune, etc. This man is sleeping---what I assume is common in the early morning (before it gets unbearably hot on the street), and we can see his shoes, among other things---maybe the types you find all the time in your abandoned footwear shots. From every homeless person I've spoken with, they say how they can't bear to be seen, at first; but after a month on the streets, they lose all sense of awareness of others, and just accept others will see them. They're too busy surviving to care; to where sleeping in front of the world becomes a normal event. Others, however, never get over the shame; and they never sleep in public until everyone is away.

Your shot is direct, honest, and poignant. And your angle brings out how he nestles into whatever protective corner he can find. (This too is common.) The blue (well captured) really draws us into him...and it's mazing to see a stray leaf or two---they're homeless too (separated from their parent tree), but they'll never require the care and attention that humans do. They make a poignant companion to the man. A fine touching shot, Harry, I'm grateful you posted it. You did a fine job of capturing a man rolled into a ball, lost in his very private world while the city is just feet away from his perch...