I saw empty sidewalks, vacated storefronts, scoreless of forlorn-looking souls where I'd never expected to see them.
This was London. Just this past summer.
I saw an entire street blanketed with makeshift tents, an urban encampment amid, of all things, a long line of parked police cars.
This was Manhattan. Same summer.
I saw a once-bustling shopping district reduced to -- wow, I still can't shake this one -- endless rows of people lying down anywhere they could, silently begging via cardboard signs amid the acrid stench of pot, defecation and human urine.
This was Denver.