Experiencing Homelessness in Berlin

Last weekend I was in Berlin and experienced homeless in such a different light. We were staying in a youthful area downtown and went to a bar the first night. I walked up to the bar to order drinks and noticed a man who seemed a bit rough walking in with a big smile. I couldn’t make out whether he was dressed like that on purpose or if he was homeless, his attitude was very open and joyful. He leaned over the bar to ask a question to the bartender to which he agreed. 

So the man walks in alone, I still cannot make out who he is, but I notice him looking around and talking to people. He was indeed homeless and asking people inside to buy the journal from him for some change. 

I was amazed to see that he was not only allowed but welcome in the bar. I can’t think of another environment where events would play out like that. His moral was high, he maintained his social skills which allowed him to politely enter establishments and create relations with people who will allow him to help himself and aid in the process. 

His behaviour was really impressive and uncommon for a homeless person. I wondered if maybe that is what makes the difference between humanitarian relations and others. 

His approach to the people in the bar was so levelled, so human that one could hardly notice he wasn’t  “one of us”. He positioned himself in a way that he couldn’t be ignored, he couldn’t be talked to as anything less than a human. In that moment at least, he was part of society.

People responded well to him, we bought his journal and took a shot all together before he went on to the next establishment.

by Céline Mercier