Next America

So much had happened to me so quickly, it was difficult to take it all in. Through no fault of my own, I had lost everything. And fast. I went from an optimistic potential repeat business owner to a homeless person in less than two weeks. Even though being hit by a forty ton semi truck is a terrible thing, it was about to get much, much worse and better at the same time.

With all the time in the world and no money for food, fuel or electricity, you have a lot of time to think. At first, the fact that I had been run over by a millionaire's truck, threatened with death several times, had my truck taken without my knowledge or consent and left on the road for dead did not sit well with me and still does not. These people put me on the street, I don't believe they should have done that.

You must control thoughts like that or they will eat you alive. That being said, my choices were to do something about it, or to do nothing. Doing the right thing is why I'm living in the back of my truck in the first place. That's why I lost my business. Why would I want to go down the road of righteousness again? When you are punished for not following the law and punished worse for obeying the law, what are you supposed to do?

The first time I was able to paddle the kayak following the accident, I was helping an older guy load his boat on the trailer. I grabbed my camera and took the photo above, when the guy, standing next to me, just blurted out "It's all just one big lie". It was the first human voice I'd heard in a month. He continued, "all of it, the government, everything". I said nothing, he left. At that point, I started to think I might not be just another homeless veteran. This society is changing in a big way, I'm on the front line, and since I have the ability, to report what I see. If America is on the highway to hell, I feel an obligation as a photographer to take a few travel photos.

All I had was the truck that I just bought, a bicycle and my fishing kayak. Everything else of value that was so precious to me was sold instantly for food and gas. I had a backup digital camera. My laptop was damaged in the accident but managed to glue it back together. It would take years to replace it. After a couple months I bought a cheap cell phone with no internet. I kept the watermanatwork.com blog online by using public WiFi. I was in the same places I always went fishing and bike riding for years, now there was no need to hurry home because I was already there.

America, as a nation and society, is fragmenting. I see it every single day. I don't have regular internet coverage and haven't had a television for twenty years. When I'm at the laundromat, the TVs are on here in Fox News country. It's hard to believe the country they are talking about is actually the same place I see every day. There is so much dishonesty and corruption, it's hard to find anything truthful to get a grip on. America is a failed nation. People like me, fucked by insurance companies, forgotten homeless veterans, good men and women who lost everything because somebody got sick, working people whose salary does not meet the cost of living are the next America. Any civilization geared to meet the needs of two percent of the population at the expense of the other ninety eight percent will fail. Maybe not.

So, here I am now. A 21st century combo of Jim Bridger and Dorothea Lange. Parked next to me is a $200,000 land yacht. We are in the same place at the same time. He has 200 sq. ft. more than I have for twenty times the cost. He's got full hookups, free rent, free utilities, free everything. He has friends with the Federal government agency managing this place. I'm using solar power and making this webpage. I pay his rent because that's the way the United States government "respects and honors" it's veterans. Two people, same place, same time, different worlds.