Can You Spare Some Change?
So the weirdest thing happened to me on the subway the other day.
I am an avid rider of the New York City subway system. I've been riding the trains alone since at least high school. My train of choice: the A train. It takes me everywhere I need to go and practically drops me off in front of my house. That train is one after my own heart. Okay, enought of my love affair with the A train.
On my way home Thursday night, a homeless guy boards my car with the usual homeless guy shpiel: "Good evening ladies and gentleman. My name is Aubrey and I'm homeless. I'm out tonight trying to collect money so I could feed myself and my wife." And so on and so on. I look up from my book just to make a visual note of said homeless guy to see if he's crazy. Strange thing, he looks vaguely familiar. I chalk it up to having seen homeless guys beg for money since my days of elementary school field trips.
Come Saturday, I'm on the A train to go in to the city to meet Toe and Tash and go see Wedding Crashers (again!). As the train pulls into Chambers Street, I see familiar homeless guy get on the train and proceed to give the same speech he did just 2 days prior. This time I took a good look at him. And his speech changed slightly. He threw in some jokes about credit cards for good measure. That's when it hit me: I used to hang out with this guy in high school.
We weren't close friends or anything. He was like a friend of a friend. But we used to act a fool around the city after Saturday band practice. The funny thing is he wasn't in the band. He would just meet us after practice and we would proceed to be unruly urban teenagers. The kind of kids that now get on my last nerve. But I digress. It was such a strange thing to see someone I knew in that kind of predicament. I was going to approach him and ask if he remembered me but I didn't. One, because I figured it might be embarassing for him to run into someone who knew him. And two, as a cardinal rule, I do not give out money on the train. I might give some fruit if I've got some on me. But no cash. I guess I didn't want to feel uncomfortable talking to him but not willing to give to his cause.
There was once a homeless guy begging for money on my beloved A train. When I got off at my stop, I saw him in the pizza shop. I figured my good deed for that day would be to offer the man a slice of pizza. He not so subtly informed me that he would prefer the cash to the pizza.
I hope Aubrey was able to feed his wife. And I said a little prayer for him after he got off the train.
I am an avid rider of the New York City subway system. I've been riding the trains alone since at least high school. My train of choice: the A train. It takes me everywhere I need to go and practically drops me off in front of my house. That train is one after my own heart. Okay, enought of my love affair with the A train.
On my way home Thursday night, a homeless guy boards my car with the usual homeless guy shpiel: "Good evening ladies and gentleman. My name is Aubrey and I'm homeless. I'm out tonight trying to collect money so I could feed myself and my wife." And so on and so on. I look up from my book just to make a visual note of said homeless guy to see if he's crazy. Strange thing, he looks vaguely familiar. I chalk it up to having seen homeless guys beg for money since my days of elementary school field trips.
Come Saturday, I'm on the A train to go in to the city to meet Toe and Tash and go see Wedding Crashers (again!). As the train pulls into Chambers Street, I see familiar homeless guy get on the train and proceed to give the same speech he did just 2 days prior. This time I took a good look at him. And his speech changed slightly. He threw in some jokes about credit cards for good measure. That's when it hit me: I used to hang out with this guy in high school.
We weren't close friends or anything. He was like a friend of a friend. But we used to act a fool around the city after Saturday band practice. The funny thing is he wasn't in the band. He would just meet us after practice and we would proceed to be unruly urban teenagers. The kind of kids that now get on my last nerve. But I digress. It was such a strange thing to see someone I knew in that kind of predicament. I was going to approach him and ask if he remembered me but I didn't. One, because I figured it might be embarassing for him to run into someone who knew him. And two, as a cardinal rule, I do not give out money on the train. I might give some fruit if I've got some on me. But no cash. I guess I didn't want to feel uncomfortable talking to him but not willing to give to his cause.
There was once a homeless guy begging for money on my beloved A train. When I got off at my stop, I saw him in the pizza shop. I figured my good deed for that day would be to offer the man a slice of pizza. He not so subtly informed me that he would prefer the cash to the pizza.
I hope Aubrey was able to feed his wife. And I said a little prayer for him after he got off the train.
posted by BabyGirl at
1:07 PM
5 Comments:
Wow! That's some ill stuff right there. I have no idea what I would have done in your place. I hope he was able to feed his wife as well.
I feel you on the rowdy youths too, esp cause I was one too. Of course I can't stand them wild ones now.
I take the A train too! It will be a hot mess if we both get off at the same stop.
Max: Nostrand Ave. is my stop. Let me find out we pass by each other in the mornings on the way to the daily grind. It would be a hot mess indeed.
Ha! Utica is my stop! We prolly pass each other every damn day! A mess!
I definitely feel you on the connection to someone homeless / destitute on the streets. I have a mentee who frequents my job neighborhood and from what I can tell, he's strung on heroine, flagrantly gay and has no one to turn to. Something happened and both parent's died and his aunt won't unfreeze his trust fund so he can buy more dope.
I had such high hopes for him. You never know where anyone will end up. There, but for the grace of God...
*
I have a uncle who chooses to be homeless rather than go back home to NC. Now he's in New Orleans in a shelter or on the streets. Well now he's in the Superdome. It sounds mean, I like it better when he's in jail. Atleast we all know where he is during his stay.
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