It is my belief that we can learn best from those who have gone or are going through the challenges. Words in books are sterile when compared with real-life experiences. Literature can teach us things that get us into the soul and heart of the issue. Here is a story of an old man and his challenges, ones that old men go through every day with no one noticing. Melvin and I lived in the same transitional housing building and he was a character. He built his world as he could tolerate it; nothing else worked for him. With the closure of so many mental institutions and cutting of funding for the mentally ill, they must now try to survive in the 'real' world. The way they do this is by created a world of their own.

MELVIN