Behind one of the doors at the Village Oaks Apartments, you can find 58 year-old Charles Kissler. A guy who is trying.
When I asked him about his story, he just looked at me. I got the feeling he wasn’t sure where to start. “How about the last 10 years?” I asked. “Pretty much hell,” he answered. I went on to learn that Charles Kissler has essentially been homeless for most of 25 years. He’s been in-and-out of different facilities. But he’s also spent many years sleeping in a station wagon.
Once he started telling me about his life, he went on for quite some time.
“It was like a camp out,” he said when I asked him to describe his living conditions.
“Nobody likes playing Tarzan out there without a home,” he said. “Nobody likes being homeless—it is really insecure.”
I asked him to start at the beginning.
“My dad was a preacher once. They separated when I was 3 and I went to live with my grandparents.”
Then what?
“I remember some holidays.” He dropped out of school after the 6th grade.
Fast forward to age 21. “I got into the dope world. Gangs. Murder. Thieves. Saw it all. It’s brutal. It’s cut-throat.” I interjected: “You sure you want me to write about this?” He was firm when he said, “Yes.” He described the darkness of what he saw and lived. Suicide and death. Hopelessness and bondage. “I’ve never seen anyone get off heroin. Never.”
At age 25 he was able to get clean, get a job, and get married. At 30 he and his wife had twins. The bottom fell out a couple years later and he was on the streets.
What about God? I got the sense he is wrestling. “I think about God all the time. Billions of stars out there. Somebody put it all together.” Did Jesus exist? “I think Jesus did exist.” Did he rise from the dead? “I think it is possible.” I invited him to talk about Jesus some more someday. “I’ll do that.”
Charles ended up at the “Bridge” in 2008 before entering the City of Dallas Gateway Program and landing at Village Oaks. “Why did you go to the Bridge?” I asked. He told me his legs were beginning to give out…and he didn’t want to end up dying in the woods alone.
How has the Gateway program been for you? “It’s really good. I’m lucky to be here.” He went on to talk about the Gateway Staff: “I had nothing. They got me a couch, a bed, some cooking utensils, a table, and a picture for my wall.” And now Charles has a companion: a cat. “So I’m not alone all the time.”
“The majority of Gateway residents really want to change their life,” he added.
“The Gateway Staff sure has good things to say about you,” I told him.
“Well, I’m not successful like Bill Gates. I’m just a guy who is trying.”
--Dean Wilson
