PEOPLE!!! (and probably the government)
November 9th 2007 17:26
Uhhhhohoohhh, bit of politics. This is a long one.
I was walking through the small 'city' of Lancaster today, as i do most days, coming across the same people on the strrets as more or less everyone does. There is one man that plays tin-flute who speaks to himself and, co-incidently, is the smallest human i've ever seen. He walks on crutches to get home after his day on the streets. I'm not sure where he lives, but it's further away from town than i live, and that's PRETTY far if you rely on crutches.
There is a woman who sells the big issue. She's the only person that sells them in Lancaster. I think she's a bit foreign.
There is one man who sits with his dog and plays guitar all day. I've seen him rub his fingers after every song he plays as it hurts him. I know how he feels being a guitarist myself. If i could give him money every day i would, but i'm a student, i'm broke aswell. At least i have a family supporting me and a roof over my head.
There used to be a man who sold lighters and balls on strings. Balls on strings being exactly what the name suggests. He stood at the end of the cross-roads in the city centre and shouted, every minute or so, 'srrinngfifieeepencenoew' at the top of his voice.
I've not seen him for a few months now.
It hurts me to see these people on the streets, especially the small guy. It's these types of people that need help. Ok, he's a bit mental, but surely that means he needs the help more than others. It's not much of a life being on the streets, living rough, or taking 2 hours to walk home after a day pllaying the tin-flute and getting about £2 for it. Now he might not want help, he may have refused it blind, infact. But the fact is he probably can't get that much help, and i think it sucks. It was similar to an old couple that lived near to me at home in Warrington. They lived above an old shop, that they may have once run.
Everyday, they went to town. I saw them most days if i walked to or from town. The front of their house still had the shutters from the shop, which were very bulky. The woman was in a wheelchair and the man was old. Very old, and hadn't got much muscle on him. Whenever i saw them trying to open the door shutter, i gave them a hand. It took him 15 minutes to do it on his own.
When i came back from Uni at Christmas in 1st year, i saw him struggling, so i gave him a hand again and they remembered me from a time before. I walked with them into town and spoke about how they hadn't got any decent pension, no help from the government and no help from anyone else who had seen them on the streets. It sickened me. They were ok with money. They didn't have a lot, but they had enough. But the struggle of living for those poor people -- who were still madly in love at the age of 90 and 91 -- could have been helped by one person, who helped them out of the shop and into a home, or someone to help remove the shutters, or someone to go get there food for them. Just, some help, some contact, for 90 years of age, they didn't get the respect they deserved from anyone.
I came back from Uni at easter to find the old lady had died. I came back for summer to find the man had too. The shop being refurnished, and up for sale. I wonder who got the money? I hope to god it wasn't the family or the government. Neither deserved it.
I guess there are some people that are just unlucky in life. Being 3 foot tall, mad, and depending on crutches and the weather to survive is pretty damn unlucky to me. I work in a charity shop in Lancaster for a few hours a week now, i felt like i wanted to be around those types of people that actually wanted to help others. I HATE people who are rude, who don't say thankyou or please, or just obnoxious dicks who laugh at the unfortunate in a way that implies they just don't care about anything but themselves.
I could rant on and on about this. No government is perfect, labour is no different, but i do vote for them at every election. People who complain constantly (like my dad) and then DON'T vote at the elections, are idiots and hypocrites. Of course, my dad is one of the kindest men on the planet, he's just a racist and homophobe (but who isn't nowadays?).
The world isn't perfect, and niether am i. So i'm probably a hypocrite too, somewhere down the line. (This is an open rant btw - i'm always open for a discussion - tell me about your woes!)
III
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