Since Facebook always asks me what's on my mind, here's what I told them today. I figured it was also worthy of a daylog here at E2.
My daily walk to the local library takes me past a mental health facility/rehab clinic and the usual cast of characters hanging around outside bumming cigarettes and spare change. Usually, I ignore them. I plod along with my head down and make a conscious decision to avoid eye contact.
Today was a bit different, sitting on the cold ground under the awning was an old woman. If I had to guess, she was probably in her mid-70’s to early 80’s. She was most certainly under-dressed for the weather this morning. She motioned me over and curiosity got the better of me and besides, I had five minutes to kill before the library opened.
I got a good look at her. She had no teeth and tobacco stained hands and her eyes had that lost look that is reserved for desperate types. What belongings she had with her were tucked away in a few plastic grocery bags and she cradled a Styrofoam cup filled with watered down coffee. In her hands she also held an official looking piece of paper.
“Excuse me sir, can you say a prayer for me? They’re throwing me out of my apartment because they said I don’t clean it so good.”
I said I most certainly would and in one of the kindest gestures I can recall as of late, she reached in one of the grocery bags and pulled out a crumpled pack of cigarettes and tried to offer me one as payback for the prayer I was already saying in my head.
So, that’s what’s on my mind Facebook. It has nothing to do with politics, it has nothing to do with religion. It has nothing to do with climate change or nuclear weapons or global conspiracies about who rigged what election. It has nothing to do with who groped who or who said what. It has nothing to do with whether my favorite team won or lost last night or who knelt and who didn’t during the National Anthem.
It does however, have everything to do with common decency.
I wish I had more than a prayer I could have offered her.