Homeless -5minutefreewrite

in #freewrite6 years ago (edited)

For https://steemit.com/contest/@freewritehouse/day-16-selfie-freewrite-celebration-contest-prize-90-999-sbd
homeless.jpg

SO!

Jennifer sets out her recycling every morning around 5 am, and it gets picked up by Cheryl, who is homeless, and redeemed for cash. This is just fine with Jennifer. She feels good about herself because of it. Then Jennifer takes an Uber to work. She used to take taxis, but they cost too much. She's very glad that Elon Musk is pressuring the city to build a tunnel using funds for public transit. It'll make the bus cost more, but that's okay, it'll still be cheaper than an Uber, and maybe they higher price will keep homeless people from sleeping on it.

When she gets to work, she has to decide how to promote the campaign for a greener city. One of the most successful and well-received initiatives was an incredibly tiny tax on plastic bags. If you can't be bothered to remember your reusable bag, you deserve the slap on the wrist that is the 10 cent fee per bag. Another way she's making the city better is by encouraging the city attorney to prosecute minor infractions, like unpaid parking and speeding tickets. Only people that make mistakes this way are punished. And the sums are just enough to remind folks that there are consequences to their behavior. A single $72 dollar fine isn't going to break anyone's bank after all. Even at minimum wage, that's still less than a day's work. Enough that you won't do it again. It should be higher she thinks, after all, it's barely noticeable to people earning the median wage.

On her way home, she sees a black man yelling very loudly at a black woman. Always a hero, she calls the cops, and then walks away, sure that the cops will help them resolve their domestic dispute peacefully.

She shakes her head sadly as she passes a man whose legs have a diameter of a basketball, sure that the little sugar tax will help him if it helps anyone to quit.

And then she sees it. A beat-up station wagon with dozens of parking tickets. Must be abandoned, she thinks. She calls to have it towed. SHE IS HELPING.

And then, in the rear window, she sees a Trader Joe's bag containing a coincidentally similar amalgamation of bottles and cans. There's three La Croix on top, just like she drank and dropped on top this morning. She can just see a Carlo Rossi label...

If

you're feeling sad after that, first of all, do what you can, think long and hard about how the choices we make every day affect the most vulnerable, even when they benefit us.

Also,

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I feel so annoyed after reading this, like I feel the need to smack her upside the head. Hhfkhfyfhkflvjlvfh. The kind of character I really dislike.

@fleurinna And yet so much like so many of us. I mean, maybe not that on the nose... but I find myself wanting things that are good for me but that mean someone else won't get something. It's hard to be conscientious, and especially hard to consider the impact on people who are less well off!

I dislike this kind of character too, @fleurinna, but partly because I'm horrified to see a little of myself in her.

Ooh. This is a tough read. Having been near homeless myself, I know how easy it is to fall into that. I try not to judge others or wish bad on them, but this still reminds me how sometimes in our ignorance we can judge and cause problems even when we think we are helping.

This is a really amazing freewrite.

Thank you.

How many times does our indifference or lack of compassion create such social murders and we don't even realise it? Great piece.

Yes indeed, if we all thought a little more of the effect of our choices upon others, the world would be a better place. Nice one!

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