Posted by Squiggles on August 6, 2007, at 9:46:10 [reposted on August 6, 2007, at 23:22:31 | original URL]
Yesterday, getting on the bus, i saw a man
behind me lugging dirty bags of cans and bottles.
He was struggling with the dangling loads to fit through the bus door.He must have hoarded them for cash because he had
so many twisted and hanging from his sun-burned bony arms and bent shoulders. He looked around 60 but being so withered and possibly a mentally ill street person, maybe he was younger.He must have weighed no more than 80 lbs at average height, and his clothes were old and ill-fitting. But he was clean with an attempt to look respectable i guess, in his baggy pants and unseasonally thick shirt. He had a resigned expression on his face, like he had lost a lot in life. Maybe, he was off his medications.
If you listen to the AM radio hosts, many often express contempt about these bums who don't get a job and offend people with their smell and presence in building corners. I always turn that stuff off.
When i confront the soap opera lives where Sir Lancelots heroically rush to rescue some damsels in emotional distress, i can only laugh at these scenarios of compassion of the well-educated, well-off, well-fed, well-housed, and privileged citizens. I say, look at this man. Look at his life. Look at *his* pain. And he doesn't look like he can afford a sandwich let alone a therapist.
Perspective in social inequality is part of good politics and the moral obligation to equalize goods and services. It is also part of accepting limits to how much is enough for every person in health and welfare.
Squiggles
LITHIUM POSTER GIRL
poster:Squiggles
thread:774488
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20070708/msgs/774488.html