The shopping cart is always a dead giveaway. At first she just had the usual plastic bags and wore too many clothes. Then she acquired a beach mat, a blanket, more stuff, and eventually a shopping cart to wheel it from one spot to another. She'd taken up residence under a tree in the small park near us. Nice, ocean view and restroom nearby.
But more often lately she's been hanging at the bus stop with its uncomfortable cement bench, brick wall behind, and one of the city's busiest streets ten feet from her face. If she weren't crazy before, a week of living in those conditions would surely have tipped her over.
Honolulu doesn't have answers to the problem of homelessness any more than any other big city. We have shelters, soup kitchens, and still people erect tents in public places or, like our neighborhood denizen, take over a bench. Some simply don't have money. But some have mental problems and lots more issues.
This morning while heading into town, I noticed two police cars stopped, two cops having a chat with the woman. While heading home again later, a black SUV was pulled up to the bus stop, its flashers on and door open. I watched a man walk over and drop a styro container--bento box lunch--on her empty blanket next to the shopping cart. Happy Easter to him. And God bless.
