Are Americans Just Terrible People?
Do Americans Get How Weirdly Twisted and Cruel Their Society Has Become?
I know, I know. The title probably makes you mad. Good. It’s a serious question. Let me tell you a little story, about my afternoon. It’s a story that I’ve seen happen more times than I can count. Then go ahead and judge me if you like for asking such a rude question — or maybe by then you might just be asking it yourself.
We’re spending the summer in the States. In one of America’s oldest towns. A quaint little place on the East Coast, with a little downtown street full of cafes and restaurants. It’s a liberal town, deep blue, generous in spirit, full of people who pride themselves on being good, decent, and humane.
Now, writers need cafes, and so I’m always on the lookout for one. Recently, I discovered that one of those cafes in particular has good vibes, and so I’ve begun to go there to write, and finish up songs I’m working on.
It was the late afternoon, about 5pm. My lovely wife asked me if I wanted to go to the cafe. Sure, I said. I had a little song to finish up, full of sunshine and summer vibes. Off we went. We’d forgotten it was near closing time, though, so we got our coffees, and instead of sitting down, we went outside to have our coffees.
I lit up a cigarette, and then frowned. Just to our left, maybe twenty feet away, was what looked like a pile of garbage. People were stepping over it. I looked more closely. The pile of garbage was shaking. And moaning. It was, I realized, to my horror, a person.
Who’d collapsed on the sidewalk. In serious and severe distress.
It had been a hot day here — wasn’t it everywhere, this summer? This person — a homeless man, clutching two garbage bags, full of his belongings, was lying there on the sidewalk. He was shaking and moaning. He was convulsing.
It was an emergency. Wasn’t it?
People were literally walking over him. This was a busy street. It was Friday evening now. People were on the way home from work, to the restaurants, to the bars. They stepped over the man who was collapsed, convulsing in pain.
