intensely_human

A can with a pop tab would have been nice. Just bread or fruit would have been nice too.

As it was, the lack of a can opener led to an interesting moment when I bought the can opener, that was a defining moment in my character, so it was good in the end.

The real lesson is you can’t really make much of a difference without absolutely massive effort. Guy gave me a can of chili, I was hungrier than I wanted to be, then later I got together enough change for a can opener and bought some flimsy piece of shit from CVS that wouldn’t open the can. Their corporate return policy is store credit only and for the first time in my life I had the motivation to refuse that bullshit and I’ve had that backbone ever since.

I refused to leave and made a scene and got my fucking $3.50 back so I could buy a functioning can opener at a different store. I remember the guy asking “You are so upset sir what is the problem??” and I said “That chili is inside that can and not inside my stomach and that’s a serious problem. If you can open that can with that can opener so I can move the chili into my stomach then I’ll leave. Otherwise you must give me cash. Not store credit unless you sell a different can opener that functions.”

Hunger was a beautiful thing for me, in that moment, because the whole reason I had become homeless is because I had let too many things happen to me. And that moment was where I saw a part of myself that was capable of moving the other direction, and I’ve been clawing my way upward since then. I was a quitter. I thought I was a quitter through and through but hunger revealed a part of me that cannot quit.

It's amazing to chat with Julian Assange in a reddit comment thread.

I had someone give me a can of chili once and I had to wait a while before I had enough money to buy a can opener.

Or give out can openers. Or swiss army knives.

Can you give some examples of deviations you found in your research?