Joseph is completely blind in one eye and partially blind in the other. Watching him try to navigate a San Diego street with a white cane, and while pushing a shopping cart broke my heart.
Joseph is 75 years old and homeless. He says he ended up on the streets because someone “cleaned him out”, yet Joseph still maintains his serenity.
Joseph’s story is one of the many stories you hear on the streets that seems hard to believe. I always try and remember that when I was homeless, and I told people I worked in television, they probably didn’t believe me either – but I was telling the truth.
In 1983, Joseph says he was shot in the head by a 14-year-old boy. The boy was walking through a parking lot and found a 357 magnum laying on the ground. The boy picked up the gun and it accidentally went off hitting Joseph in the head. The boy then called the police and the paramedics.
Joseph says the boy was an honor student and received 20 years in prison for the shooting. Joseph then worked for 16 months to get the boy out of prison. Joseph says the person responsible was not the boy that accidentally fired the gun, but the person who “misplaced” the gun, who Joseph claims was a parole officer.
As crazy as this story may sound, I have to remember miracle stories like Lydia Bardak, who after being brutally raped, saved the life of her attacker.
Joseph’s amazing story doesn’t end there, but you’re just going to have to watch it yourself for the rest.
