Monday, August 08, 2005
i suck
Yesterday I was doing some filming downtown with a couple of guys for a church thing. We were out interviewing people and we ended up talking to this homeless kid for a while. He was 19 and had green hair. He said he'd been in the army but got discharged for being bi-polar. Some organization was trying to set him up with a job and a place to live in Lexington but, for whatever reason, it was taking a while. He talked to us about living on the streets and doing odd jobs for money.
He had this kind of hard-earned wisdom thing going on. It was a little like talking to an old man at times. I couldn't believe how relaxed he seemed about his current situation. He told us about how many friends he'd made in Lexington already and how much he liked it. He told us how if he ever had money in his pocket and somebody asked him for it, he would always give it to them - which was incredible because it was pretty obvious having money in his pocket was a rare thing for him.
I walked away from that conversation feeling like a spoiled jackass. Mostly because I am a spoiled jackass. A few days ago I was stressing because I had several bills come due at once and I had to dip into my savings in order to be able to pay them all on time. This kid doesn't have a home and happily gives away whatever money he has in his pocket at any given time. A savings account is probably an alien concept to him - much less getting all antsy because he might have to spend $50 out of it to make sure a bill gets paid on time.
you should totally write a column about that- reality checks like that are always a gift, I whine and complain about how I work for the state and make no money, then I realize that a lot of my clients feed, clothe, and shelter themselves, and 2 or 3 kids, on like 600 dollars a month, and that includes welfare assitance. I mean a part time minimum wage job to take care of a whole family and I am bitching because I can only afford a compact car and a stateside vacation...
I think I am gonna write a column about it.
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He had this kind of hard-earned wisdom thing going on. It was a little like talking to an old man at times. I couldn't believe how relaxed he seemed about his current situation. He told us about how many friends he'd made in Lexington already and how much he liked it. He told us how if he ever had money in his pocket and somebody asked him for it, he would always give it to them - which was incredible because it was pretty obvious having money in his pocket was a rare thing for him.
I walked away from that conversation feeling like a spoiled jackass. Mostly because I am a spoiled jackass. A few days ago I was stressing because I had several bills come due at once and I had to dip into my savings in order to be able to pay them all on time. This kid doesn't have a home and happily gives away whatever money he has in his pocket at any given time. A savings account is probably an alien concept to him - much less getting all antsy because he might have to spend $50 out of it to make sure a bill gets paid on time.
you should totally write a column about that- reality checks like that are always a gift, I whine and complain about how I work for the state and make no money, then I realize that a lot of my clients feed, clothe, and shelter themselves, and 2 or 3 kids, on like 600 dollars a month, and that includes welfare assitance. I mean a part time minimum wage job to take care of a whole family and I am bitching because I can only afford a compact car and a stateside vacation...
I think I am gonna write a column about it.
Post a Comment
