Casual Indifference

Jockey Street, brother to Beth Quick, is a good storyteller. He recently wrote about an encounter with the everyday brutality of life, and how easy it is to forget the vulnerability of individuals:

The bus came, roughly on schedule. As it approached the first stop, the man lifted his arm, waved, stepped to the corner.

The bus passed him. Didn't slow down, even though it was an obvious stop and this was clearly the right line. Drove by. The man, still waving, ran after it.

The bus pulled up to my wife's corner, stopped at the red light. The man caught up to it. My wife and the man both stepped to the side of the vehicle. The door didn't open. The driver didn't look their way. They tapped on the glass door. Nothing. The man began to pound. Nothing. The man began to swear. The light turned green, and the bus pulled away. My wife walked back home, called a friend, and got a ride to work.

[snip]

And the stopped, waited, wouldn't let him on. Inconvenienced my wife. Quite possibly set this guy back... way back (no job=no insurance=more money spent on doctor bills, no job=no rent money=eviction, termination=no good reference when trying to find the next job, all of it=lectures from public assistance officials, etc, etc). And I can't help but get a little bit angry when I wonder how often and in how many places this happens to people every day. A little bit angry... not so much at the bus driver, but at the simple-minded middle class moralists who want to explain everything away with genius strokes like "people have to take personal responsiblity" and then push the issue of poverty, of need, away.

One of the advantages to being in the middle or upper classes is the economic safety net that it affords. A disaster occurs and one can recover. Let us remember how close the poor and marginalized are to irrecoverable collapse -- and to be generous to those who have collapsed and feel no hope.