Triggering Points

This is Billy Bob and the Consortium
Let’s Have a Conversation Today

We are Triggering Points
So Many Uncomfortable Conversations

Know when you walk into a room and the room goes silent, or the subject takes a hard right, you know that you were the topic of that subject. They are uncomfortable in your presence. Well, that situation is our lives as homeless folk, no one wants to talk with, about, or to us, and certainly not about our problems.  Here is the real fear: if they talk to us, there may be solutions found. Let’s see what today’s question triggers:

You know that moment—
you walk into a room and it goes quiet,
or the conversation swerves hard right like it hit black ice.

You don’t need confirmation.
You already know—you were the subject,
and now your presence makes them uncomfortable.

That moment?
That’s not an exception for us.
That’s our lives.

As homeless folk, silence follows us everywhere.
No one wants to talk with us,
no one wants to talk to us,
and definitely not about what broke,
what failed,
or what keeps us stuck out here.

We don’t disappear—
we’re made unspeakable.

So let’s see what today’s question triggers

Initial Reaction from the Consortium

Billy Bob, you can have my coffee today, I don’t want to be a part of this conversation. I live this every day, and I don’t want to talk to them about what they do every day.

 Frankie, relax, then just sit and listen, maybe? Yeah, who put this nasty question in the hatbox for us this morning? It is hard to be ignored, but then to talk to them about it, nasty stuff.

 They ain’t interested, they are just trying to trap us with words, their favorite games which is more ammo to use against us, no thanks.

Guys, drink coffee, eat treats, it will be okay, let’s turn the tables and use this to inform them of their wickedness, then, okay.

Round Table Discussion/Frustration

Johnny Boy here, and you housed folk can be a piece of work, and that ain’t no compliment. I can watch you folks walking on a sidewalk and the moment that you catch the first glimpse of a homeless person, your conversation slows, your pace changes and if possible, you move to the other side of the road, all to avoid us, and you never consider engaging. That comment from the opening, hit a patch of black ice is so true, I have seen it hundreds of times, and I have popped out of hiding on purpose to cause just for fun so many times. Question, does it ever cross your mind that we are humans in need of help, hope and intervention and that avoiding us and the conversation regarding homelessness is only making the numbers go up dramatically.

When I was in the military, we always had that one or two who were there because they did not fit in anywhere else, and we had to work to meld them into the unit they were assigned to. But that was what we did, we worked to help them adjust so that the unit overall was stronger, healthier and more ready for the assignments that were coming. It is a skill set that is needed in the real world, but in this here world the big brother model is set on us versus them at every level and there is little to no chance of getting rid of uncomfortable conversations regarding the homeless.

Hey, it’s me, Pete, I think this is the one thing that hurts the very most when they willfully ignore us and then go to the other side so they can pretend that we are not in their same space. It is like we lost our house keys and address, and when that happened, they took our humanity for giggles and told us we be the bad end of jokes, riddles and bad humor for the rest of our lives, why, what did we do that was so bad? I mean, what about the kids, the elderly, the disabled, the veterans, what did they do to end up out here on these darn streets and yet we remain the unspeakable one

Mike here, you folks are so blessed, you rarely, if ever, walk into a room where the conversation stops and spins on a dime and when it does, you are able to shake it off and move forward. But you have to try and think for a moment we have no place to go, no place to rest, no place to sit down and to just stop, so when you take off to the other side of the road, ignore us and flake us, it hurts because we are already on the edge of life and with hope gone, life soon follows. I have to remember, and I must remind the guys, that you have been trained to think this way and you probably aren’t going to change, comfort has set in. Your silence follows us everywhere even into the grave.

Riposte

A question with no answer is not curiosity,
it is a trigger.
It releases pain long buried,
carries shame on its breath,
and breeds frustration that has nowhere to go.

It changes the room.
The air tightens, grows cold and uneasy,
and everyone feels it, though no one speaks it.
Silence settles in and does the talking for us.

And in that silence, the truth becomes clear—
there is no answer here.

Enter the subject—
the black ice snuck in,
no warning, no sign,
just the sudden theft of control.

One moment motion,
the next—
spin, slide, surrender.

Silence follows.
Not peace—
that other silence.
The kind that presses on the ears,
the chest,
the knowing.

Even grace hesitates here.
Even mercy holds its breath.

No answers arrive.
No explanation, no voice, no rescue rope.

Just that silence—
so loud it finishes the sentence
we were afraid to ask.

Trigger points everywhere.
The misfit toys weren’t broken plastic—
they were people all along.

Humans made inconvenient.
Humans that don’t fit the shelf,
don’t smile right,
don’t stay quiet enough to be ignored cleanly.

The conversations that should happen never do.
Eyes shift.
Topics take a hard turn.
Words stall out mid-breath.

Silence steps in—
not gentle,
not neutral—
but heavy, deliberate,
defeating.

And in that quiet,
when no one asks,
when no one names it,
when no one stays…

You start to wonder—
not out of philosophy,
but survival—

Am I still human,or just something everyone hopes will disappearif they don’t say my name out loud?

Okay, Our Turn, We Ask You Some Questions:

Our Hope that you will see through the superficial topic of discussion, seeing us as hot potatoes, that trap us to the streets and to the graves

That you begin to understand the danger of: Not thinking for your own self, but where you can challenge groupthink

See the great divide presented today in this discussion, the subject matter is not objective, no way, it is ultra personal and yet never inter-personal, changed, slowed, stopped, but not engaging, no hope for lasting change, right?

Finally, assess for yourself, is this a true, true mindset that I have allowed or is it something that I have been fed, and it is false, critically important

Conclusion

Silence, that deafening quiet that has no rival but the grave. The uncomfortable silence with lives with us and it is enhanced by your encountering us, by your being uncomfortable around us, by your fear and dread of us; that silence is deadly.

You folks walk into board rooms, classrooms, church rooms, hospital rooms, and you bring change, hope, life, and education, but to the streets, you mostly carry stigmatizing silence, that has to change if we are gong to see the numbers begin to fall.

Let me ask you this: why do you refuse, refrain from talking to us, if you cannot or will not answer, I can for you, the very mindset that we have been battling with today, you did not like some of the conversation from the coffee heads. But, Selah, enough for today, see you soon.

What Will Their Outcome Be?

You Have a Part to Play…