Tom came by this afternoon in seemingly high spirits. He believes he has found some decent part-time work. He came in and we chatted for about 30 minutes. It is especially interesting that now he no longer simply complains about his own life, but he asks me about mine and seems genuinely interested. I told him about my struggles with the ordination review committee and he told me that in his book, I'm already ordained. That comment really makes me happy. If only we had a couple theologically trained homeless people on the committee, we'd be golden.
Tom also told me that he has acquired a few more misdemenor tickets for loitering, jay-walking, and riding the train without a ticket. Tickets which I doubt I could get on my own. Would a cop give me a ticket for asking for money outside of a WaWa? Would they fine me for hopping a median of a highway? Would they give me a ticket for riding the train with an unpunched ticket? Or would I simply get warnings because of me being middle class?
I think on one of my days off sometime soon, I'm going to ride the train all day and see what happens. Or perhaps I will someday have the courage to beg for money to see how I'm treated. I need to first work up the guts to do it to see what happens. I don't know if I'd ever actually get sent to jail for it, but who knows... its a hard thing to overcome pride.
2 comments:
Tom seems like a good guy.. It's good to hear that things might be looking up for him. I definitely see what you mean. Here in Boston the police and transit authorities have what I like to call.. Paddy Wagons. Other than used to rounding up out of control BU students (haha), they get nightly use to gather homeless people that are found in places like subway stops and bus terminals.
I spoke to one of our Elders yesterday at our soup dinner. He used to drive a bus, and I asked how strict the authorities are about riding around without a bus pass. Basically, he said even if I speak nicely to the cop/security guard, I'll still get a ticket. So I don't think I will go out of my way just to do that. Instead, I think that I might try to sit out in front of a WaWa all day asking for money to see how I'm treated.
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