American Headturners

Friday a man who does not even speak english helped me catch a glimpse of my core nature, it was rather ghastly. Arpicio is one of the field hands who has been working with me for the past few days. After a hard days work, I drive him and another back to their house (it is only a few minutes down the road from me), but friday the drive took an unexpected turn.

We were stopped at a red light when a homeless man started weaving through the jungle of chrome begging for money. When he arrived at my passenger-side window, I naturally turned to look through my drivers side window. Arpicio, however, began to dig in his pockets, extracting a dollar bill - he rolled down the window and gave it to the man on the street. I was taken aback, Arpicio cannot make much more than minimum wage, he shares a house with other migrant workers to save money, yet he gave without hesitation when the opportunity arose.

A few minutes later, while pondering the generosity shown, I actually caught myself stealing a glance at a BMW in a car lot. I have no desire for a luxury car, yet I was still there admiring its beauty. What is wrong with me? I turn my head from a homeless man and cast my gaze upon a car, a mere trinket?

Unfortunately I believe my reaction to the beggar was indicative of a broadly held perspective, ignore the ugly and think about what will make you "better".

jp

PS - I would be remiss not to note that the beggar looked quite strung out, and while the issue of supporting people in such situations is an issue to ponder, my reaction was still revolting.