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Bob Collins

1,000 Words: The homeless

Wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, Nathanael Baisley, 38, sits in a bus in Los Angeles en route to Santa Monica Beach, where he spends the night, Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017. Baisley said he has been homeless on and off for three years and is going through a divorce with his wife who lives in England with their 5-year-old son. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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Today's 1,000 Words comes with words.

It's the voice of Jae Hong, a photographer for the Associated Press, whose assignment was to document the homeless crisis in the West.

"I saw so much of people in their rawest moments that I couldn’t bring myself to take photos of some of it," he says in a first-person account on the Associated Press blog.

Watch the eyes.

I wish I understood the problem of homelessness better than before. Truth is I’m more confused than ever. I can’t see a solution.

I made plenty of mistakes growing up. We all did. But my parents loved me and supported me. My mother even gave up her job as a school teacher in South Korea so my brother and I could study in the U.S. How many on Skid Row had that luxury?

I now live in a two-bedroom condo in a gated community. The refrigerator is full of food. There’s a hot shower and comfortable bed.