Quote:
Originally Posted by NuclearFart
I'm not sure if he's still there, but I remember a guy who used to speed walk around U of C (early 2000's) always dressed the same - grey sweat pants & black tee shirt - with a HUGE duffle bag always on his shoulder. He was quite tall and had a bald head and he always reminded me of that white "Micheal Jackson" that Homer meets in the mental institute ("happy birthday lisa...."). I would also see him from time to time randomly around town always dressed the same and often reading a book while speed walking.
There was supposedly a legend about him, that he was badly hit by a U of C maintenance vehicle and thus granted lifelong free tuition in exchange for no publicity/lawsuit.
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Yeah, jogging pants guy. I hear he got run over by a landscaping truck in the mid 80's. The settlement was all expenses paid university until he finished his degree. They didn't mention what degree. So he takes a course program until he is 1 course away from graduation, then switches majors.
It's no doubt not true, but it's a good story.
The other thing I have to talk about. In my home town (which was pretty small) we had a town drunk. You would see him all the time on main street dressed in rags, often yelling or sleeping. Your typical mess, and the sort of person your parents tell you to avoid when you are a kid.
Well, I didn't find out till years later. The guy had been a successful engineer, wife, kids, nice house, the whole nine yards. One day driving home he was in an accident, and his entire family was killed. And that was it. He never recovered emotionally.
I always think about that a little bit when I see a homeless person. They can be pretty funny to watch, no doubt, and some of them belong in an institution, but if you look to their past, you might just find some tragedy that would leave any one of us in a similar position.