homeless guys

after yummy dinner at red bamboo, there were leftovers. as craig had to stay at school, i was to take the leftovers home. this was difficult because i was already holding a backpack and another plastic bag, containing shoes. and the food bag had to be held flat. so i was trying to muster a way to finagle all of this, when a homeless guy asked for some spare change.

if he wasn't really homeless, he did a good job of faking it. he was old, and very skinny, with a scraggly gray beard, and standing in the snow wearing nothing thicker than denim, bare-headed and bare-handed.

i walked past him, as i normally walk past people asking for money, when it dawned on me. i turned back and asked him if he wanted some food. "sure." so i handed him the food bag and told him it was vegetable tempura, and was still fresh and warm. he said thanks, and i continued on my way. i figured that even though i had just given craig's food away, he wouldn't mind. and i was right.

then on the f train a man gave a well-practiced speech about how he was homeless and hungry and looking for work. at least, that's what i think he said. even though i speak both spanish and english, this guy was speaking some slurry mixture of the two that was nearly unintelligable. then he repeated the speech in spanish.

as he exited the train, he literally ran into a guy holding an accordian. when the doors closed and the train started moving, the accordian started playing. i do like accordian music, but this was very loud and unpropositioned.

i have a problem with subway "performers." the ones in the stations are fine because you can just keep walking. but on the train, there is no escape. all i want is a comfortable ride home, free of accordian music. then they make you feel guilty that you didn't give them any money. but i didn't ask them to play the accordian. besides the fact that i have barely enough money to feed myself, if i want a performance, i will go to one.

when i left the f train, i thought i would be free. the accordian music followed, but was not in the same car as me while on the j. but lo and behold, there was the first guy again, old spantelligable. he gave the exact same bi-lingual speech and again begged for money. again, i felt bad because i did not give him money, but i reminded myself that i had just given a heckuva lot of food to someone else, not half an hour prior.

i can't give money to everyone that asks. i give food when i can, but again, i can't give it to everyone. maybe someday i'll be rich, and then i can give money AND food to every homeless guy i see, even if i see 3 (or 4, depending on how you count) in the same half hour.