The Different Degrees of Homelessness
Fernando Silva works as a doctor, healing with herbs, hard work, and humor. He has set broken bones, soothed burns, and treated various ailments—but he says that he has not yet found a cure for homelessness.
"There are different degrees of homelessness," he tells me. "The worst form is when you are faced with no house, no shelter, no safety. But subtler, and more painful, is the loss of your sense of stability."
No pill, no medication can restore the former optimism of the homeless. For what remedy can touch the fragile shell of the human spirit?