I've been saying, "I don't know man," out loud, to myself, in recent days. I'm not sure why. I'm no more confused than usual. I think it has something to do with realizing how cruel our society is.
I drove through downtown yesterday morning, and I don't usually do that. It was plain to me that people were suffering. I stopped at the corner of Fifth and Los Angeles. There was a man picking through a trashcan. I was almost numb to it. I turned the corner, and there was another man picking through a trashcan. And it occurred to me that most people are numb to it. We're taught to be numb to it. Had he just followed the rules and gotten a good education, some people say. But these guys were bat-shit crazy and it didn't seem right.
As I drove away I couldn't help but think that the men are victims of a heartless society. I thought about the government. What is government? I boiled it down to one word. Assistance. Now who the government should assist is a matter of debate. All I know is we have a problem and it doesn't go away by ignoring it. In fact, it cheapens life for everybody. It cheapens life for the man picking through the trash. It cheapens it for the man driving by who sees the man picking trash. And it cheapens it for those politicians who are making the decisions about where we spend taxpayer money. It's all connected and I guess that's why I've been saying, "I don't know man, I just don't know."
Because deep down I do know and that's what makes it hard to understand.
