Imagine. Imagine living in your car. In a Walgreen’s parking lot. Then getting washed up in a McDonald’s bathroom. For months on end. Imagine. 

Now imagine this happening to you as a child. Imagine having to hide your homelessness from your teachers, for fear you’ll be taken away from your mother. Imagine. 

Joseph Shepard doesn’t have to imagine it. He lived it. 

But his story and his struggle has helped him reimagine what life might look like for him. What life might look like for others like him, if he used his voice and his testimony to help and heal. 

This conversation with Joseph was enlightening and inspiring. He’s got some stuff to say. And everyone should listen. 

To choose love in the face of hatred, fear, oppression, obstacles and hard times isn’t required of us. It isn’t. We have the free will to choose love. That’s what makes it love. And that’s what makes it the bravest damn thing.