Today I went for a run along the PB-MB boardwalk. As I was crossing over to the bay side, near the roller coaster, I saw a cop hassling a homeless man. The man had a cane and a guitar and the cop had taken both of them away from him, and was making him cross the sidewalk without his cane. The man was elderly, and life had certainly been hard on him. He really did need that cane.
I was paused, not knowing what to do. The man said, "Hey! This cop is picking on me!" I acknowledged him with a compassionate look, yet I didn't speak up. I don't know why the cop was hassling him. I suspect it was some kind of panhanlding law, that the homeless man was playing guitar for money.
When the crosswalk turned green, I went on. But I felt really wretched about it. I cried for several mintes as I ran. I was overcome by compassion for this man whose life had clearly been so hard and who doesn't have any options and gets hassled for existing. I was also disappointed in myself for not speaking up. Not even disappointed - disgusted. In that moment my non-action represented so much of what is wrong with our society. I should have at least asked the cop why the man was being stopped.
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2 comments:
I sympathize. I've been in similar situations. It's hard to know when and how to intervene.
yeah, that's a hard one to call. cuz you don't know the situation. it's possible the homeless guy was harrassing people, who knows. but i do think it was mean that the officer didn't give him his cane. tough situation, i feel you on this one.
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