primitives want to know what just happened

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x935751

Oh my.

CoffeeCat  (1000+ posts)        Thu Apr-21-11 02:47 PM
Original message
 
What just happened?

I pulled into a gas station today and as I was filling up, a man was searching through the trash next to the gas pump. I saw him pull out a couple of empty soda cans. This man didn't look unkept and his clothes were clean.
He even had a red Columbia jacket on. As I finished filling the tank, I made eye contact with the guy and said hello.

I don't know how to describe what happened when our eyes met--but it punched a hole in my world.

He looked so dispondent and depressed...worn out. It rocked me.

He moved to the next trash can beside the pumps in the next lane. As I returned to my car, a woman drove up to that pump. She looked at the man rummaging through the trash, looked at me and rolled her eyes. I noticed she had a child in a car seat, in the backseat of her car. I gave her the benefit of the doubt, and assumed that her eye rolling was mainly out of fear or uncertainty about this trash-digging man, who would only be a few feet from her.

I circled my car around and went into the convenience store, withdrew $20 and went outside and found the man looking into the trash can next to the front doors. I asked him if it was ok if I gave him the money. He choked out the words, "Oh God...you have no idea. Thank you" and he walked away. I returned to my car and noticed him opening the trunk of the car next to me--putting away the sack of soda cans he had collected.

As I pulled away, I noticed--the car was a BMW.

I don't know what just happened. What DID just happen? Was this someone who had done well for a
long time, but was now so dispondent and destitute that a few dollars from collecting cans was necessary to survive?

I don't know what to make of this. I am still upset. I live in an upper-middle class suburb in the midwest.

What is going on in this country?

I dunno.  You voted for the Big Zero.  You tell me what's going on in this country.

It's a very large campfire, burning high and furiously.

CaliforniaPeggy  (1000+ posts)        Thu Apr-21-11 02:51 PM
THE POETESS CALPIG PRIMITIVE, #05 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2010
Response to Original message

3. You did a very good thing...

I suspect your guess about what's happening to this man is not far from the truth.

It IS upsetting, to see people like this, scrounging in the trash for recyclable goods. We're not used to it, nor should we be.

It is a scandal, and it is wrong.

Tansy_Gold  (1000+ posts)        Thu Apr-21-11 06:35 PM
Response to Reply #3
 
63. ". . . people like this. . . . "

Nice people who drive BMWs shouldn't be reduced to scrounging in trash cans for recyclables, is that it?

I posted up thread because I was too angry about the "people like this" phrase, but I thought my anger would subside. It didn't.

People have scrounged for recyclables for a long long long long time. People have panhandled and gotten food at soup kitchens and food banks. People have begged and starved and frozen to death, but I guess as long as it isn't "people like this" then we don't have to feel any guilt or pain or even any ****ing sympathy. We sure as hell don't have to give "people not like this" any assistance.

How easy it is to close our eyes, to pretend they aren't there, and then all of sudden oh my ****ing god it's one of us, one of our kind, a "there but for the grace of whatever ****ing god you believe in go you" kind of person. A person who drives a Beemer, who looks nice, who dresses nice, who discreetly puts his scavengings in the trunk where they're neatly out of sight so no one he knows is offended by what he has had to resort to keep up appearances.

It's not about how much the car is worth on the open market; it's about the dignity that poor people have been robbed of because they never had any assets and no one seems to care about them, but when it happens one of the "people like this" with his nice car and his nice appearance, then all of a sudden it hits home.

I wonder how many people he stepped on on his way up the ladder of success? I wonder if he and his wife had an undocumented nanny who they treated like "one of the family" to the point of not paying her for some of her overtime? Did they turn her in to ICE when they got far enough behind on her wages that they couldn't afford any more? I wonder if he hired undocumented workers to take care of his lawn and his pool, then cheered the anti-immigrant legislation in Arizona and elsewhere? I wonder if he cheered his dividend statements when profits went up because the companies he had stock in moved their production facilities to Mexico and China and Bangladesh where they could hire 10-year-olds to work 12 hours a day and not worry about OSHA and worker's comp? I wonder if he put his kids in a nice charter school so he could brag that his kids were in a "public" school but were getting a "private" school education because all the tax money was going into the operator's pocket? I wonder how many pukes he voted for, how many times he whined that his taxes were burdensome, how many times he accused the poor of being lazy and undeserving of any assistance?

Yes, yes, it's oh so sad that the man in the BMW is now reduced to recycling aluminum cans. I wonder how many recyclable wine bottles he's thrown out in his profligate lifetime, how many throw-away bottles of designer water he's littered the landscape and the beachscape and the waterscape with? I wonder how much water and wine and food and resources he's wasted without a thought to the cost to the planet or his fellow creatures on it? What's his energy footprint, his fresh water footprint? How much fossil fuel has he burned to keep the yard lights on, the pool heated, the driveway snow melted?

Sorry that I have so little sympathy for "people like this." Maybe he's just learning a valuable lesson.

Melinda  (1000+ posts)        Thu Apr-21-11 08:20 PM
Response to Reply #63
 
76. I think you misunderstand the phrase "people like this"

My perception when I read the entire sentence "It IS upsetting, to see people like this, scrounging in the trash for recyclable goods" is the poster means she is upset to learn (see) anyone (people) without resources (like this) going thru the trash in hopes of finding scrap for sale.

I don't believe she intended to make any kind of value judgment or denigration. Peggy is one of the kindest, most supporting of many big hearted liberals I have had the pleasure of reading on DU for over 10 years now... and this includes you too, TansyGold. Your determination and activism inspires, and the many struggles of and in your life have been absorbed, cried over, and cheered on (albeit silently) from my home in CA over many years.

I truly believe Peggy did not mean what you read. Words get in the way sometimes, don't they? They do. Peace to you TG.

CaliforniaPeggy  (1000+ posts)        Thu Apr-21-11 08:44 PM
THE POETESS CALPIG PRIMITIVE, #05 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2010
Response to Reply #76

78. Thank you. You have interpreted me correctly.

I appreciate your support so much...

Yeah yeah.....

HillbillyBob  (1000+ posts)        Fri Apr-22-11 02:35 PM
Response to Reply #118
 
122. Thanks you said it better than I could

I feel for most anyone having to dig through the trash.

The problem is systemic. I have been at or near the bottom for years..get ahead for a few years then something drastic happens and have to start all over.

We were next to homeless in 2002. Its a long story about lay offs and outsourcing and a small biz we were trying to start and a poor choice in biz partners. The house we ended up in for the winter had no heat and a number of windows out and a mold problem that nearly killed me, I am hiv+ have seizures, heart problems(likely from the meds) etc etc. I worked 2 and 3 jobs plus did some refinishing furniture..In fact there is only about 3 pcs of furniture in the house that is less than 50 yrs old, from yard sales, dumpsters, picked out of the bulk day trash. I have some refinished, but for years we did not live in a place that I could work on it. We bought this abandoned house(still no shop space) cheap I mean no one else wanted it. Its a nice house, needs work after being abandoned then turned into an mj grow. But we can afford the payments. The access road sux big time, but it keeps our casual snoops, religious pamphleteers, and sales man!

We are climbing back up, if not for VA benefits we could not have bought the place even though it was cheap.

My partner got laid off last month..we have struggled to get our feet under us for almost 10 yrs. We don't have a savings cushion because we are paycheck to paycheck and now we are looking at losing it all again. We are hoping and praying a job will come soon. Its hard to find a job at 53yrs. I cannot work.

We have increased the energy efficiency (on the cheap) our power bills are cut by 3/4 and we plan to cut that even more. Then install solar water/heat/power.

In 2002 when our life went out the window it was Second Harvest that stood between us and starving. I have wanted to help pay them back.

Where we moved we have room for gardens and now are almost feeding ourselves. I would like to get to where we can take extra to SH for others.

We are taking this abandoned place and turning it to permaculture/ organic fruits and veggies to eat, barter and share. We are going to have to work together and rebuild a community to survive and take on the righwhiners. 

The campfire burns in a richly sloppy manner, no rhyme or reason to its course.

The 1986 Buick's there too.

[blitzkrieg_17]

Never happened. Not even worth rating. ZERO.

[Chris_]

If the bums want empty cans, all they have to do is come to my place.  I'll be glad to have someone cart them all off for me.

[JohnnyReb]

I know a few fellows that pick up cans and strip copper wire to sell. They do it for fishing money, hobby or just to have something to do. They've worked all their lives, saved their money and are not destitute, just bored more or less. ....unlike the dope doing DUmmies that steal airconditioners, wiring and plumbing from homes because they've always been to lazy and to sorry to work. 

[formerlurker]

No Bobbo?   

[formerlurker]

nadinbrzezinski   (1000+ posts)             Thu Apr-21-11 06:12 PM
Response to Original message
61. That is exactly what just happendd
   
this story of yours also belongs in any oral history of the Great Depression.

She is so wise. 

[formerlurker]

undeterred   (1000+ posts)             Thu Apr-21-11 03:00 PM
Response to Original message
9. While I was in line at the food pantry today there was a guy cursing Obama
   
for the high price of gas. He said there is plenty of oil in the Artic but Obama refuses to let us drill there. So its all Obama's fault. I kept my mouth shut and got my food.

 

[franksolich]

No Bobbo?   

No, she's at the campfire, but the campfire's so big I didn't bring her comment over.

[zeitgeist]

I know a few fellows that pick up cans and strip copper wire to sell. They do it for fishing money, hobby or just to have something to do. They've worked all their lives, saved their money and are not destitute, just bored more or less. ....unlike the dope doing DUmmies that steal airconditioners, wiring and plumbing from homes because they've always been to lazy and to sorry to work. 

I just came back from a very wet beagle walk.  Todays route took us through an area where those fabbled hobo(meles)s spend time communing with nature while knocking back a few Knickerbockers.  One day next week I will take a pick stick and sack(s) on our walk. My favorite vest has plenty of holes and patches, if only I still had the Roadster I bet I could get quite a bouncy going.



Many of today's homeless are yesterday's hobos. 

To cope with the difficulty of hobo life, hobos developed a system of symbols, or a code. Hobos would write this code with chalk or coal to provide directions, information, and warnings to other hobos. Some signs included "turn right here", "beware of hostile railroad police", "dangerous dog", "food available here", and so on. For instance:

A cross signifies "angel food," that is, food served to the hobos after a sermon.
A triangle with hands signifies that the homeowner has a gun.[10]
A horizontal zigzag signifies a barking dog.[10]
A square missing its top line signifies it is safe to camp in that location.
A top hat and a triangle signify wealth.
A spearhead signifies a warning to defend oneself.
A circle with two parallel arrows means to get out fast, as hobos are not welcome in the area.[10]
Two interlocked humans signify handcuffs. (i.e. hobos are hauled off to jail).
A Caduceus symbol signifies the house has a medical doctor living in it.
A cross with a smiley face in one of the corners means the doctor at this office will treat hobos for free.
A cat signifies that a kind lady lives here.[10]
A wavy line (signifying water) above an X means fresh water and a campsite.
Three diagonal lines mean it's not a safe place.
A square with a slanted roof (signifying a house) with an X through it means that the house has already been "burned" or "tricked" by another hobo and is not a trusting house.
Two shovels, signifying work was available (Shovels, because most hobos did manual labor).


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobo