Visiting with the Bird Man

by Mark Horvath · 2010-02-01 10:26:00 UTC
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I love interesting people. In Washington, D.C. I observed "Nature Boy" walking down the street. He was such a contrast to the neighborhood that I had to find him and talk to him. As luck would have it we later met at a park across the street from the White House.

While driving along the Embarcadero in San Francisco I got a glimpse of a man trying to leverage his wheelchair to dig deeper into a trash can. The next day I went back purposely to find Dale.

For maybe a year now I would pass by "Bird Man" regretting I didn't have my camera on me. The times I drove to his Echo Park location off the 101 in Los Angeles with my camera he was never there. Today that changed.

Ninja, as he likes to be called, has been on the streets for 20 years. He says the birds are attracted to him because he has a heart full of love. The very sad part is I often see him sleeping on the cold concrete under the freeway overpass.

I can very much relate to "Bird Man." When I was homeless, my pet iguana D.O.G. provided me with a gimmick to increase panhandling revenue.

When I asked Ninja for his three wishes, without hesitation he responded, "health, wealth and wisdom."

Bird Man from InvisiblePeople.tv on Vimeo.

Mark Horvath is an activist for the homeless. He vlogs at invisiblepeople.tv and blogs at hardlynormal.com. He was formerly homeless in Hollywood.
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