It is impossible to overlook homeless people in New York City today. I have always been aware of their omnipresence in the city, I know the corners where they can be found, where some of them like to nap, and at what times of day they are most active. Sometimes I feel sorry for them and give them money, other times I stare, and sometimes I just flat out ignore them.
But recently, the visibility of the homeless in the city has sprouted outside their usual confines; they have rooted their lives around the quotidian dynamics of the city. Now, when I sit in the train platform most of the time I see a homeless person either to my right or left, I see them napping in the sidewalk during my morning walk to work, and know for sure I will have a midnight encounter with them if I take the subway home past midnight. I have noticed their presence grows large when I am not wrapped up in the city's motions, when I am not rushing to get somewhere; they become more visible when I am still, usually waiting for something or someone.
About a month ago, I had to get up really early for work, and while waiting at the corner of 34th street right in from of Macy's, the brisk morning breeze dragged a vinegary stench right to my face from the floor where a squatting homeless woman was peeing. A few days after that, while sipping coffee and waiting to connect to the R train, I look to my right and at the end of the platform there is man cleaning himself after going right there in the platform. When our eyes met, he looked distraught and embarrassed. I looked away, not knowing how to handle the situation.
These encounters I have been having with the homeless feel like a very close look at all that is wrong with this life; the disenfranchisement of certain groups, the economic contrasts, the burden of modern life in people's psyches, and most of all, the indifference of the privileged. For a very long time I have seen how people ignore the homeless(including myself) because of how they contrast the idyllic New York City people like to see: vibrant, rich, full of culture, but with no reminders of how exclusive this place can be, please.
It doesn't feel right or even feasible to ignore homeless people in the city anymore; yet we are encouraged not to help them out, not to give them any change, and to ignore them just in case they are crazy. I wonder then, what do we do with these very real encounters with homeless people? How can we digest their very apparent and real struggle? How can we help them out?... What is the homeless alternative?
3 comments:
buehhh! La verdad es que eso da mucha pena. A mi me pasa lo mismo, cada vez que veo pedileños o chiriperos me da una increíble lástima y me obliga a preguntarme: Qué hago? Le doy algo? Lo ignoro? Me despreciará si lo ignoro? se alegrará si le doy algo? Pero al final no creo que ninguno de los dos caminos ayude.
Love you womoya.
Gauo! Per Senority Yerika! You have become a most mature, insightful expressive writer. Most of your stories, if not all, truly move me, touch me and motivate me to express to you how they make me feel. Thank you for sharing these precious gifts with us, your unsuspecting readers!
And ultimately isn't that the true brand of an effective writer, to move her reader to do something, feel something or take action. So I am taking action and reciprocatiing with you.
I too have had many similar experiences with homeless people in the city and can place myself within the confines of your many encounters.
How do I deal with them you ask? Through true genuine kindess when it has been places in my heart adn cautious distance when it is in my brain.
Last Friday, the one right before Halloween, I walked almost a mile to St Francis of Assisi church holding a chocolate cupcake with bright orange frosting, all festive for the pending Holiday.
I looked closely and searched patiently until I found her...and there she was where she she always is every single day when I pass her on my way home to LI and she is saying what she always says with her familiar sing-songy tone that made me recognize her immediately... "Does anyonnnne have annnnny extrrrra fooood or anyyyy extra change plllllease?"
So I approached and ever so gently presented her with the cupcake I had brought especially for her and in a tone so much softer than my own natual voice I asked "Would you like this cupcake?"
In an instant the smile of a child seeing Disney World for the first time lit up her face and she looked, innocent, happy, beautiful.
"Yes," she said... "Uh-huh! Thank you so much, now I will have Halloween after all!"
And I walked to the train....feeling happy, because she was happy. And all it took was a leftover cupcake that nobody wanted!
uff con qué gran pregunta nos dejas...
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