More this and That… Wondering what to do…

For my afternoon bike ride today I took a familiar route heading west on the north side of the San Diego River out to the ocean… then I crossed over to the south side of the river for the ride back home. Fifteen to twenty homeless people scattered along the route were settling in for the night under trees or against bridge pylons. I was riding alone, but other recreational bikers like me were there, too… seeming not to notice… perhaps trying not to notice the reality of dereliction and homelessness. Not far from the Old Town State Park, I saw a man lying in the weeds beside the path.  Other bikers rode past without seeming to notice.  Feeling oddly detached from myself as if I were a character in a television drama, I stopped… and asked, “Are you all right?”  He opened his eyes slowly, drowsily, and said, “I’m O.K.,” and closed his eyes again. I asked, “Do you want me to get someone to help you?”  He understood and groggily, drunkenly said, “No… No…”  I asked, "Would you like me to help you?"  He said again, "No."

I rode on… and then still wondering what to do, I turned around and rode back.  This guy was sleeping… in the weeds… by the river… late in the afternoon.  This is San Diego, so the temperature was around 70 degrees. I asked again, “Are you sure you don’t want me to get someone for you?” He said again, “No, no.”  

Should I have called the police… perhaps made a 911 call… or roused him again to insist that he had to go somewhere???  Does a person deserved to be left along?  He wasn't injured.  Would I have created a bigger problem for him if I had called to report what I was seeing?  Calling 911 would have brought the police.  Should I have stopped another biker to ask what “we” should do?  As I write this I’m wondering if he is still there. I'm wondering if what looks like a bit of a camp under the tree nearby is his "place." I’m thinking I didn’t do the right thing.  What is the right thing to do about the dozens of homeless people who "bed down" somewhere along the river in Mission Valley every night?

I'm also thinking back over a discussion about religion that I had with friends earlier in the day... a discussion about the importance of knowing how to determine what is real and what is myth, and about the importance of striving for a sense of reality that is based on reason and evidence. Sometimes reason and evidence based reality still leaves me with more questions than answers.