OT> A mile wide and an inch deep

[rocklin]

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Today.

NYC, late afternoon, air is crisp, and turning cold.

Barreling along in my wheelchair, slaloming through the ultra-trendy famer's market crowd in union square.

There's a craft's fair on and this crowd is in shopping frenzy mode.

I cut through them like gayle sayers on a kick-off run.

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Bunch of political "happenings" going on.

Group of folks giving out hugs for free.

People with megaphones, barking stuff I don't understand.

Some OWS people, dressed to kill: all black designer stuff, featuring witty and hip accessories.

Crowd gets a contact buzz as the OWS folk pass through.

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I pull the trigger on a chrome and alligator skin business card holder.

It glistens in the rapidly approaching dark.

Turning west on 14th street I head for home.

Just miss the bus. Curse him out.

Roll past some young homeless dude, sitting on his butt, a hand-scrawled sign holding the world at bay.

My heart sinks. Jesus, what a bummer. I roll past him.

A voice inside me says: "Yeah, who wants to deal with that?"

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I do a 180.

Slowly creep up on him.

His head is down, between his knees.

His sign talks about needing bus-fare to get back home.

It is cold now, and he is shivering.

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I politely ask him if he would tell me what he needs.

He says he is homeless, and that he has a home in Buffalo NY waiting him if he can scrounge up the $22 need for bus-fare.

We chat for a bit and I give him a dollar, don't have much cash in my wallet.

We shake hands. His name is John.

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I look back, over his shoulder.

The union square crowd is dissipating. Night is falling.

All that hipness. All that trendy concern. All that money.

But nobody could see the lonely man suffering just a few yards away.

Twenty two f*cking dollars, that much changed hands at the market every three seconds.

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So much intelligence, so much stupidity.

So much fashion.

Like the overflow from a night's deluge, their concern like a vast but shallow lake.

A mile wide and an inch deep.

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goodnight. sleep tight.

roc

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[Muse-Inc]

Great irony, Rocklin, nicely phrased. Contrasts, the highs and lows, the purposeful blindless, life lived in the shadows, the seeming infutility of making real change...great stuff!

[rested gal]

rocklin, please have the courtesy to put "OT" (means "off topic" as you well know) in front of these topics you persist in starting that have nothing to do with ... you know what.

[rocklin]

rocklin, please have the courtesy to put "OT . . . "

Done.

My apologies, rested gal.

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[Mary Z]

deleted because it wasn't nice.

[rocklin]

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Hi Mary Z!

I just read my PMs.

And there was this pm to me that I find impossible to believe came from you:

"Dude, you don't know where you come from, much less anything about ASV.

Turd."

Surely, someone hacked your account and posted under your name, right?

.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Then I see you also posted to me:

Location: Crystal Palace Building, Forest of Tears, (Wilderness of Mirrors), Siberia, RU Русский

Gender: N/A

Followed by:

Is this guy for real?

I imagine so.

But how do you know he /she is a guy?

The gender is "N/A".

Surely you don't want to assume facts not in evidence?

.
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Surely he's been around long enough to learn "OT".

Yeah, again I apologize. I did correct it.

And Mary Zzz, will you please stop calling me "Shirley".

Or at least learn how to spell it correctly.

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[SilverAnn]

Loved your post. Thanks for taking the time to write about it.

Ann

[msradar65]

Wow, you really have a gift for painting a picture with words. Keep writing! I love reading!

[VVV]

Wow, you really have a gift for painting a picture with words. Keep writing! I love reading!

Loved your post. Thanks for taking the time to write about it.

Ann

Agreed.

But that is one of the first good posts you have made.

Now about that $22-boy, I think the odds are very high that he is lying about the bus ticket and the ride home. Betcha if he gets 22 he is back on the street the next day telling the same story.

Can't know for sure but it seems likely.

I like picking up hitchhikers. Have had very good experience doing this except for one time. Two little punks in my little home town. Asked for my wallet and watch three blocks from their destination. I said, "I am going to pull into that next drive and beat the hell out of both of you." When I pulled in they jumped from the car and ran.

I still have been picking up various thumbers.

Two weeks ago a friend, at 1:00 p.m., in the parking lot of a nice mall went to the aid of two guys in a BMW with the hood up. They showed a pistol and demanded his wallet and watch and then closed the hood and drove off quickly.

This has me reproached badly by the friend and others who know I pick up hitchhikers.

I am rethinking this tactic.

(Is Rested Gal an administrator?)

[SleepingUgly]

I am rethinking this tactic.

You'd be a fool not to!

[NightMonkey]

It is a bad practice to give money to people on the street. I have been in cities where even women and children were begging on the streets. My hosts asked me not to give them money. It only contributes to abuse and more people on the street begging. The crimimal element quickly gets involved if a lot of people are giving money to beggars.

It is better to write a check to a local church or charity. They have ways to get the money to people who really need it and are not being abusive of the situation.

If that $22-boy would show up at my church's doors, he would be interviewed, likely they would phone his "home" in Buffalo, and if everything checked out he would get $22 (or a bus ticket) and some money for food (or a gift certificate for a fast food restaurant).

[VVV]

I am rethinking this tactic.

You'd be a fool not to!

Or heavily armed.

[ems]

I hope someone finally gave him the money. I hope he was telling the truth. Who do you believe?

More and more people standing on street corners... more and more kids... again, who do you believe? Some are even dressed nicely and have nice haircuts. Is this a fun way for them to make holiday money? Whatever, most of the time I pass them by and then feel sick to my stomach.

Nicely written, Mike.

[SleepingUgly]

I am rethinking this tactic.

You'd be a fool not to!

Or heavily armed.

I'm thinking the two are not mutually exclusive.

[jabman]

I have a friend that took a different aproch to helping people like this out and I have adopted it ia well. He would carry extra food in his lunch expecally when he knew he would be passing one of these people. They used to hang out ( and probably still do but I havn't been by there in a long time) at a certin busy off ramp with a sign that said will work for food. so my frind would pull up to them and give him the extra food he had for the day.
I don't think it wise to give them money because you don't know if they are legit or not. But doing nothing is not right eather. This way if they are trully hungry they get food and if it is a scam then they get a free lunch and you are not supporting their habit.