Monday, August 30, 2010

Street Smart

One of the things I love about living in a city is the rawness of urban life.

And by rawness, I mean that what you see throughout your daily life is not always wrapped in a pretty pink box with a turquoise bow on it.

Urban living forces you to view all the dichotomies of life, by placing them directly in front of your face.

I’ve seen everything from the most horrible acts of violence to witnessing the most sensitive gestures of kindness; all within the same day.

You haven’t lived until you’ve seen someone with their pants down around their ankles; taking a leak on a building wall, while walking to work in the morning.

You also haven’t lived until you’ve seen a man standing on a street corner with a severe case of Tourette’s syndrome; screaming obscenities at the top of his lungs. I honestly didn’t think it was possible to use the word fuck that many times in one sentence.

Nor have you lived until you’ve seen a woman walking next to you on the sidewalk SPIT; missing you by a quarter of an inch.

And that’s not even the half of it.

The trick to urban life is to not allow yourself to become so calloused that you are immune to noticing or caring.

For those of you who don’t live in a city, what I’m about to share may sound a bit harsh. But I guarantee that if you lived in a city you would have to learn how to be street smart, or be eaten up by people who are out there looking for a free ride.

And let me say that being someone who understands bankruptcy, I am totally compassionate to anyone who is genuinely in need.

After living in a city for a few years, you begin to sense the difference between those individuals who are asking for money; wanting it for alcohol or drugs, and those individuals who are sincerely destitute.

You notice the same young college students who repeatedly sit on the sidewalks with a sign in front of them that says, “Today is my birthday, could you please help me with money for food?” And what’s ironic about these same young college students, is that they’re sitting there smoking a pack of cigarettes and talking on their cell phones.

I don’t give money to everyone on the street who asks. I will only give money to those individuals who I feel in my heart to give to. Sometimes I will simply offer to buy them something to eat or drink.

Some may think that’s being judgmental. I think of it as being discerning.

Last Friday afternoon I was walking back from Trader Joe's. And as I got about two blocks from my apartment, I began to hear the sound of beautiful music coming from a saxophone. When I turned to look to my left, I saw a middle-aged man sitting on a portable little stool, playing his heart out on a saxophone. In front of him was a plastic bucket filled with a few bills. It took me a few seconds to notice that he was blind.

As the traffic light changed, I crossed the street and got about halfway down the block, when I heard a loud voice inside me say, “ Go back and give to that man.”

I only had a dollar left in my pocket, but I turned around and walked back across the street and up to this gentleman.

I said, “Hi, here you go (placing the bill in his bucket). And I just want to thank your for sharing your amazing talent.”

He said, “Thank you.”

I walked away with a huge lump in my throat.

Here was a man, who had only one thing to give to the world in the way of making money.

And he was out there doing it.

With all his heart.