The wall around him: “I’m tired of all the ones who beg for money, I never ask for anything,” he said while talking about the old neighborhood where he grew up as a child. He continued, “They litter everywhere and trash it up – Not me, I collect cans [pointing at a bag of cans hanging from his bike handlebars].”
The 51 year old has lived in Chattanooga his entire life. “My mom was lenient,” he said with a smile. He then made the statement, “My dad… my dad was hard on me.” I asked if his father ever hit him or raised his hand to which he responded, “Some kids need that.”
And there he sits alone with his salad that a kind passerby gave him. If you stop to talk, he quietly screams in his head for more human interaction, but his wall is too high at times to see the outside world.
"Hey you, standing in the road
always doing what you're told,
Can you help me?
Hey you, out there beyond the wall,
Breaking bottles in the hall,
Can you help me?
Hey you, don't tell me there's no hope at all
Together we stand, divided we fall."
-Pink Floyd on The Wall album from 1979, Hey You