i didnt want to buy strawberries but ended up with a huge box of them sunday from a woman in chinatown. she was selling the last box for about 1/2 the price and i was hungry. One the crowded train home, i decided NOT to break into the box.
like most sundays, a homeless or apparently homeless person entered the train to tell their story of pride and not begging for money, but then she went on to beg for money.
I usually offer my fruit, an apple, two or three oranges whatever fruit i have and most people have taken it gladly...
some refuse my fruit and it usually is a sign of wanting cash for drugs.
this woman, with her unwashed and uncombed hair, missing teeth, and broken shoes entered the train, begging about not begging came to me... i offered my strawberries and she went on a tirade with language that i could not repeat. She equated my strawberries with pussy and wanted to know why i was showing her pussy..
i should have sensed her mental illness..
i wonder about the poverty, drug users, mentally ill who i know qualify for SSI or PA checks and do they spend them all, have them stolen, forget to go for recertification, or are too ill to take care of themselves..
welfare reform is 5 years old and many individuals will start to lose their safety net. those who are able have been sent to work at minimum wage jobs replacing union workers, others hit the streets.
i have seen the increase in people begging for money on the train, on street corners an the such
in queens, there are beggers who bring that skill and i think the paper cup from their country of origin... walking the cars for cash, on crutches, with limbs missing.. like they do in their native country..
I see day laborers waiting for trucks to pick 2-5 men like in their county and also depcited in Cinderella Man... "pick me" for an honest days work... all off the books.. pay be cheaply and i can buy milk for my kids
then i see the battery man on the Q... fake Duracell, fake batteries.. 5 for 10, 2 for a dollar...
America the land of the rich with streets paved of gold, give me your tired, your poor , your huddled masses yearning to breath free
