Scott holds up a plastic I.d. card from several years ago.”You see how ugly that is?” He asks. Then he holds up another card with a more clean-shaven image taken a couple months back. He then waves his hand over his face. “Unfortunately this is what I look like now,” Holding up the second card again he adds, “I want to get back to this. I want to get back to this guy. (first card goes up) I don’t want to be this guy (second card again), I want to be this guy.”

Scott has an incredibly positive attitude. He is outspoken in seeking help from caregivers at St. Vincent de Paul where he has been in and out and in again over the years, and at the Transitional Storage Center operated by Think Dignity.

Asked if he was a military veteran, Scott replied “I don’t remember. But I’m going to have them look into that and see.” He then ran through a list of traumatic situations and mental health issues that combine to overwhelm his well-being. “Death in the family, separation of family, um, bipolar, schizophrenia, um, hypertension deficit disorder, um learning disorder, and just a long time of institutionalized, and so it’s just a lot. But, I haven’t given up, my friends haven’t given up on me. People haven’t given up on me, churches haven’t given up on me, and my brains ain’t beat in.”

If Scott were hitchhiking along a Northern California redwood highway he would look, like a local. Long blond hair, plaid wool shirt, jeans and boots. Storing his belongings at the TSC allows him mobility around San Diego’s streets, and is able to go into the library or grocery stores without having security guards follow him around. Still, he has issues with how certain grocery stores package goods in a way that is unmanageable for people living on the streets. If he wants to buy just one or two items, and not an entire box, that’s not possible. Meanwhile, a box of whatever item is often something he can’t afford.

Scott spent the first 21 years of his life in Child and Family Services. He got engaged in Las Vegas in 2004 when he was 23, but his fiancé wanted him to clean up his wild ways and stop hanging out on the street so much. He didn’t, and she left. He moved to San Diego in 2009 and lived for a while in an apartment supported through the Center Star Act program. He said he was forced out of that program wrongfully.

He is currently in a room at St. Vincent de Paul, hoping he can navigate services to a more stable situation, with proper medication. He is getting his SSI and has medical insurance so he is on the right track he feels. He has one change of clothing, and a Bible but nothing else. He feels that’s enough to start creating a new chapter in his life.

“It’s gonna take dedication, fellowship, and just friends and love, a little patience and uh, good attitude. So that’s what I’m gonna try.”

He collects his good attitude from San Diego’s sunshine, he said. “I mean look, I’m sitting here living in downtown San Diego. Hello?! I mean do you know how many people would die to come and live here? And the weather? Right now we’ve had a little fog for a couple days, but this the most warmest city, we got beachfronts, hundreds of hiking trails, bike trails, and fitness courses and functions going on every weekend. And there’s people out there donating their time and communities and good people to put a smile on your face.”