Four Days, Three Nights

Lulled by a mysterious dream, Michael Marchetti was pulled to understand in mind, body, and spirit the experience of being homeless. For four days and three nights of May 2024, the former pilot surfaced on the streets of Austria's second largest city, penniless and without a cell phone, to literally walk in the shoes of those who have no address, by societal standards. Going into the experiment, he wondered, "If everything that we often take for granted in our lives falls away, what is actually left of ourselves?" From the puzzle of finding a safe place outside to sleep, to the experience of "being a nuisance to others, who at best ignore you," to the unsuspecting moments of humanity -- a gas station attendant who made him a cup of coffee while knowing he couldn't pay for it, the social worker who instantly began making phone calls to find him an evening shelter upon learning he had no place to stay, the kind eyes of a stranger. "The lasting moments," Marchetti reflects, "are the ones where people didn't look at me with their eyes, but saw me with their hearts."

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