Garbage in the metro
A couple months ago, I had a good laugh on the 62. We were cruising down Rice Street and then had a stop and a red light at Rice and Maryland. I was spacing out and staring out the window when I saw the funniest car of my life. It was a little blue early-90s Geo Metro. The funny part was that it was filled floor to ceiling with garbage: pop cans, paper, pizza boxes, Doritos bags, everything but the kitchen sink. You couldn’t even see the driver for all the garbage piled up on the passenger side. I looked up and realized that silence had fallen on the packed rush-hour bus. Every single person, including the driver, was staring at that Geo Metro. Some little teenage hip-hop girl said, “I never seen a car like that in my life!!!” Then everyone started laughing and complete strangers asked each other, “Did you see that?” It was a good community-builder on the bus, I guess.
Jul 2nd, 2007 at 6:33 pm
Yeah… ummmm… how do we know that you weren’t laughing at a homeless person who lives in their car? Perhaps the reason the car was full of stuff was because that was all the stuff they owned and since they lived in their car it just so happens to take up much of the space. It’s amazing how quick we all are to judge rather than to just think for a second what it might be like for that person. I’m glad you had a good laugh and felt a “bond” with your busmates but I just hope it wasn’t ignorant laughter.
Jul 2nd, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Lighten up. My high school and college job was working in a grocery store. The people with the packed cars aren’t homeless. They have a disorder, like those that have 35 cats in their houses.
Yes, it is funny. Sometimes we would see signs off mice living in these cars.
Jul 2nd, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Just because my late model truck is usually full of a week’s worth of newspapers and water bottles, on the passenger side floor, and blankets to cover the leaher seats so no one gets thier butts fried,( after it”s been sitting in the sun, on a hot day) . Does that mean too, that I’m homeless? A resident of the apt bldg I live in has a car matching that same decsription. The rent here is far from chaep. Talk about “judging”
Jul 3rd, 2007 at 10:16 am
Perhaps the reason the car was full of stuff was because that was all the stuff they owned …
Empty pop cans? Pizza boxes? Doritos bags?
Those are not possessions. That is TRASH.
Jul 3rd, 2007 at 11:02 pm
I have a friend who lived on the streets for a period of time. He tells me that a homeless person never keeps garbage around because it’s not something that could be put to good use. It sounds to me like these items were garbage and nothing more.
The poster of the first comment read too far into this story and shows what it is to be “ignorant”. Ignorance can just as easily come from someone who thinks him/herself the guardian of “social justice” and goodness.
Jul 9th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
amem
Jul 12th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Just to clarify, I wasn’t making the judgement call that this person was in fact homeless, nor was I passing judgement on Quaking Aspen and busmates for laughing at this person. All I was offering was another perspective and the honest-to-goodness hope that this person didn’t look over and see an entire bus of people staring and laughing at them whether they were homeless, had a “disorder like those that have 35 cats in their houses”, or none of the above. You never know how you are affecting other people’s feelings or lives based on your own actions.
So although many of you have a good point and some of you even have presented your argument well, while others seem to need to learn to connect the dots better- you have missed my point.
To perhaps help you understand what I meant. When I was a child sitting in a waiting room to the doctors office in the old Health Partners building of Uptown, a little person/midget walked in and sat down beside me and my mom. Having never seen such a thing before, I pointed and laughed asking my mom if she saw this funny person sitting next to us. Of course my mother scolded me and when we returned home, she explained the ideas of empathy and respect for those that are different than us.
I laughed because I was ignorant, I certainly wouldn’t laugh now as I am sure many of you would not either and why??? Because we know that’s not proper behavior, not because some guardian of “social justice” and goodness would comment on our story posted on a public forum, but instead because we just simply know it’s not right.
I hope this helps you understand my comment wasn’t meant to pass judgement but simply to remind us about those little things in life that we might do meaning no harm, but causing harm to others.
Jul 19th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Oh BS
Jul 23rd, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Not Sure…Your moniker says it all.
Jul 29th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Yes Patty, you are exactly right. I made the whole thing up just to defend myself against others on this forum. And yes Melody, you also correct, that’s the reason I chose this handle.
Aug 27th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Homeless people don’t know how to use dumpsters, therefore, it is politically uncorrect to laugh at anybody who collects trash in their car, home, office cubicle, or any other place where trash can pile up. It is an amendment to the constitution.
FYI - Collecting trash in your vehicle and having a phsyical attribute from birth that you can neither change nor brought upon yourself are two very different things. If we missed your point, your example of ignorance at work and tolerance learned did nothing to help teach me either.
Nov 13th, 2007 at 12:36 am
If it takes you 4 paragraphs to “explain” yourself, you were wrong in the first place. Noodleman you’re hilarious and I agree. Homeless people do not keep trash with them. “Not sure said” - you are an idiot, and I’d like you to explain the trash that lies around the park areas in front of the Dorothy Day Center downtown Saint Paul, or is that their friendly way of mulching to help the trees and flowers? You sound like a social-justice-kid who is too green, and has yet to wake up to the real world. I pity your parents.