INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Arkansas Man Headed On Foot To Democratic National Convention, Turns Around In Ohio — You’ll Never Guess Why

By Dawn Papple
Published on: 07:36 PST, Jul 17, 2016

On Saturday, the Inquisitr featured the story of a young man who headed out on foot from Arkansas to Philadelphia. Nathan Shuffield had set a course for the Democratic National Convention. On Saturday, he was in Columbus, Ohio, having walked a great deal and gotten some rides through cities from fellow Berniecrats and even a trooper.

In Columbus, he found himself all turned around, and he joked that maybe he wasn’t cut out for the big city. He finally decided to hop on a bus to Reynoldsburg just to leave Columbus.

“For some reason i cant seem to find my way out of Columbus,” Nate wrote. “So im cheating. $2 bus fare to reynoldsburg. Dont judge me.”

Now, Shuffield has decided he’s turning around.

He is heading back in the opposite direction away from Philadelphia, where the Democratic National Convention will be held next week. Nathan had intended to walk, ride, or get to Philly in any unorthodox way in order to draw attention to the struggle going on between establishment Democrats and Progressives within the left-leaning party.

Nate said he wanted to draw attention to the idea that Sanders endorsement was not a concession speech. While Bernie has announced that Hillary Clinton won the nomination, Berniecrats across the nation have taken to imploring superdelegates to choose Bernie Sanders when it’s their chance to vote. Nate’s journey was to inspire hope in that process, he says.

Berniecrats, like Shuffield, point to polls showing that if Hillary Clinton is nominated officially as the party’s candidate for president, the general election will be a very close race. Shuffield was interviewed by Tristate Homepage about his trek from Arkansas to the Democratic National Convention, but the news outlet didn’t end up mentioning the actual reason he headed out on foot from his home state to Philadelphia.

On Sunday, Nathan wrote on his Facebook page that his journey to the DNC “has officially come to a halt.”

“Im going back to Columbus.”

Shuffield isn’t turning around because he’s lost hope that Berniecrats stand any chance of rallying the superdelegates though. Shuffield is turning around to right a wrong, he says.

“I passed a homeless man who was in his 30s or so. As i gave him a dollar, a woman came up to him and was warning him to leave. I am going to go back and ask him if he wants to join me on my journey. This is the time to change a life. I feel horrible for having done nothing.”

As of the last update at the time of this writing, Nathan said that he had left the Walmart in Reynoldsburg (where, incidentally, a strike for $15-per-hour minimum wage was once held) and that he was headed back to Columbus, the city that, for reasons that perplexed Shuffield at the time, seemed to put a roadblock on his path to Philadelphia when he tried to leave it on foot.

Shuffield intends to go back and reconnect with the homeless man he met briefly in Columbus. He says he’ll walk around the tourists areas of Columbus all day if he has to just to find the man that he felt obligated to help. Although there are homeless people in the city, Shuffield says he felt compelled to help this particular man and ask him to walk to the DNC with him.

“I cant not do this,” Shuffield said to people concerned for his safety.

“Thank you for expressing your concern BUT THIS IS MY LIFE AND IF I WANT TO SPEND IT HELPING 1 OR 20000 PEOPLE, THAT IS UP TO ME.”

Nathan has received many warnings and even condescension for his decision to turn around, but some are supportive of whatever he decides to do. One Facebook user praised him highly for his compassion.

“Will you marry me? You are the most compassionate man I have ever ‘known’,” the female poster stated.

“Heart of gold, this young man,” another Facebook user posted. “Backtracking on his journey to invite a homeless man he encountered along the way to join him all the way to the Democratic National Convention.”

Nathan still plans to make his way to Philly, but for now, he’s scouring the tourist areas of Columbus for the man he says he didn’t help enough. The convention, of course, won’t wait for Nathan, but Nathan has decided not to wait for the convention to start implementing the progressive ideals his favored candidate has spoken so strongly about. With any luck, he hopes that he will have a new traveling companion on his journey to the Democratic National Convention.

[Image via Facebook]

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