Do you even see me?

 

Do you even see me? You walk by me every day on your way to work and back.  Sometimes you bump into me and sigh out of frustration, look shocked, surprised or have this guilty look on your face but you still don’t look me in the eye…well, I have two so you could look at both of them actually. HaHa, that’s a joke by the way. I’m not mad or anything you know. I’m just sayin’…

Sometimes I bring my best friend, Roger. He’s a Golden Retriever mix…like me I guess. But you DO look at him and his eyes do speak to you.  What difference does it make?  You don’t even respond to Roger’s pleas.

You know, I’m just ordinary …nothing special.  But I am alive!  I breath, I talk and I feel just like you. I bleed if you cut me, I thirst just like you, my tummy grumble but a lot more than you I bet. {sorry, that was a wise crack.  You might say passive/aggressive. You see, I am impoverished but I am not stupid…I am smart actually. I have a degree actually.  Bet you didn’t know that, eh?  Yeah, back at the bunker, they call me The Philosopher King}

I don’t bug you. I don’t even beg for your money. I just sit by the railing of the upper level subway at the Bonaventure winter when it’s too cold and hot, damp summers…just a few hours to get my bearing.

Sometimes I meet up with my buddies and we laugh a bit about life. You know, funny things that would probably tickle you too. Actually I think we laugh at simpler things. It doesn’t take much to make me smile. And patience? Well, you know what? I have more patience than most of all of you who never see me. 

It’s sad really that humans don’t see humans.  Don’t get mad or impatient with me for being here. You actually don’t own this part of “my world”.  You just rush by every day.  I often hear, “Get a job”…hmmm, well, some of us did make choices.  You are probably right there but lots of us did not make the choice to live below the poverty level; and our options are not very encouraging. They are more like take bad, worse or the pits. Some of us are forced to take meds that make us drool or give us dry mouth; most of us don’t like to go to shelters because they may have showers and food but YOU try sleeping there, man, woman, person when the city has an epidemic of bed bugs! And that is not the worse part because some folks are sicker than me and some are dangerous.  I have to sleep on a thin mattress with my shoes on and they still get stolen!

Have you noticed I am not addressing to children or teens. Youths are okay. They have not been bitten by the virus yet. But just because you have been attacked by that virus, you needn’t spread it. And Puleeeze, if you can’t look at me in the eye or eyes, do NOT breathe near me or on me. I don’t need your friggin virus either. I have enough to deal with like finding food for one meal every other day and a clean spot to snooze in peace.  Yep keep your own infectious disease of “indifference”.

© Cheryl-Lynn 2014/04/26

Photo: Bonaventure Metro Station, where I pass every day. It is 2 levels down from a posh floor of eateries, waterfalls and indoor skating rink.

 

“This post is part of SoCS: http://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2014/04/25/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-2614/ ”