Today I saw a man in a wheelchair struggling to push himself up a ramp.
The "handicap accessible ramp" seemed to be doing a poor job of fulfilling it's purpose.
I wanted to walk up to him, whisper gently into his ear.
"I got you, old friend. Please don't worry".
But I couldn't.
What if he was bitter, jaded, uninterested in my assistance?
What if he said "fuck off, kid. I don't need you or your stinking help"
I was too afraid to risk it. I kept walking. The thought of an unkind world making a old, crippled man angry scared me. As I walked on by, I became a member of that unkindness.
Maybe I was the straw that broke the camel's back. What if I made this man unkind by not stopping? My own fear became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A regular citizen of the unkind world.
No comments:
Post a Comment