you choose what you see
Posted by Patrik Edvardsson | Posted in dutch , homeless , magazine , shame | Posted on 12:54 PM
Sometimes I meet a homeless person selling a newspaper when I enter my local supermarket. I lower my focus and look stressed when I hurry past him through the door, often avoiding looking him straight in the eyes. Sometimes I plan on buying a copy, but what would I say? I can’t speak Dutch and I won’t be able to read his magazine. I can’t even share a few words of comfort. So I pass him by again, with a stressed look unapologetically blaming the world for the inequalities in society. One day I will buy a paper, and look him in the eyes and we will not have to speak because I have seen him, and that is really all that matters in life. But until then, I pass him by, detached from his world, aware of my own shame.
When I pass a homeless person in Gothenburg, I think that if I open my wallet he will pickpocket me. However shortly before Christmas,when I left the Systembolaget (yes we have both systembolag and bums in Torslanda nowadays) with my glögg, I gave a Gypsy boy my vagnpeng). My new theory is that favours and return favours equals out eventually, and guess what, last time I went to the systembolaget, a man handed his vagn over to me, including vagnpeng, for free!
Lennart: Thanks for sharing, I like your theory, and I also hope that things even out in the end for most people. The same idea was presented in the movie Pay It Forward if I remember correctly, and although the movie it self is not great, the idea of human kindness and its effect is an appealing concept for an idealist as myself.
I agree. the shame is horrible. I always try to buy the big issue (homeless magazine) in London. I started buying it from the same guy every week the last time I was in London. It salved my conscience; I in my own little way got to know the guy's story.
They say hello here, sometimes even in English. They know my face (hard not to remember), and yet, every time I avert my eyes and pass by, I feel like I'm shaming myself with my lack of interaction. Trust me, most of the homeless in this city speak English. It's mad.
Oh, and I like your writing. I'm not succinct as you can tell; it's something I admire greatly, to distil the emotion. me, as you can tell, I tend to ramble wildly.
Saki: I think you're right, they probably do speak English. Next week I will buy a magazine, see what happens. Thanks for the kind words, and if wild rambling is how you feel comfortable writing you should embrace it. We can't, and should not, all be succinct (which I, until I just googled it had no idea what it meant:) writers.