When I met Craig he was 13 and homeless. I still thought his life might turn around. I was tragically wrong
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/nov/11/when-i-met-craig-he-was-13-and-homeless-i-still-thought-his-life-might-turn-around-i-was-tragically-wrong
Posted by Hassaan18
6 Comments
I read this yesterday. It’s a very sad and very thought-provoking read. He never stood a chance and it’s just such a sad waste of a life – of a basically decent human who knew what he should be able to do and achieve but was just too damaged to do it. It’s horrifying to me that people can still just fall through all the cracks in society like this. I hope the poor man is at least at peace now.
Probably the quote that stuck out the most to me
> “I run back to the drugs,” Craig once wrote to me, “cos I know how to be a druggie, I know what I have to do, or have to act, where other situations I haven’t a clue. Things get too emotional for me. I even panic when I’m just attending appointments whether it’s the jobcentre or whatever I just panic in my head. I feel like I’m 13 years old again when I’m out.”
Idk if anyone here knows complex trauma but it strips away every single part of you until you don’t even know if you’re a human anymore. Systematically he wasn’t given the chance to be anything but what he was, by every single adult in his life. Even with apparently good chaplaincy services sometimes it’s not enough.
I really like the Long Read from the Guardian. Very well made.
This is such a sad story.
There’s a saying in the southern US, “Poor people have poor ways…” I’ve always assumed it means when enough bad stuff has happened in someone’s life, it’s much easier to stay in or return to the bad, tragic or difficult circumstances simply because it’s a familiar set of behaviors. It’s what you know. It’s all you’ve EVER known.
Poor people (addicts, drunks, chronically unemployed) aren’t necessarily bad morally – they’re just repeating the behaviors they know.
Was a really interesting read, could not help but feel empathy for Craig and wonder how many Craig there were at any given time…
Hard for me to read. I can’t imagine how hard it was to live.