2:22 a.m. - 2001-06-28
Society
I was in IHOP a few nights ago, I don't remember which night because when you're like me they sort of all blend together. Anyway, I was alone this particular trip because I had a lot to think about and didn't feel like bringing the happy people down.
The point of this story, yes there is one, is that while sitting in the IHOP, a homeless woman walked in, she was quite old, worn out, her clothes old and smelling of urine, and her body reeked like she had not bathed in weeks, which wouldn't surprise me considering she's homeless and they don't have many showers in the gas stations here at IHOP.
Point being, the hostess of the IHOP immediately went over to her, I expected to be disgusted by her "Polite as possible but get the fuck out" routine. I was quite surprised when she asked if the woman would like a booth or a seat at the counter. The woman said, and I quote directly "I don't have any money for food, and I won't bother you long, I just need some water to take my medication". Now, my mind being as it is immediately wondered how she bought, or got the prescription for the pills, etc, however I was quickly brought back to reality as the woman brought the woman over to a table in the back, and brought her some water. She sat her tired bones down for a moment and enjoyed the water more than anyone I had ever seen before. I got the waitress a 20$ and asked her to get the woman whatever she wanted. I've been homeless and on the street before so I know what it's like.
But all of this is beside my point. I wondered, if I had not been in some random IHOP in the wee hours of the morning, and instead had been in somewhere more populated, say the buffet here at the grand Mirage hotel and casino, would the woman have been treated with the same courtesy, or any courtesy at all? Would she even have been let in the doors? Or would they quickly usher the woman to her seat..outside the restaurant. Would those people eating there, far more well enough then a bum like me, offered, or even cared anything about this woman, but to get her to leave...
I see people giving money to "charitable foundations", helping the homeless, helping this country or that one, but when they come face to face with it they turn away from the realities that is life, and go back to their pancakes, never glimpsing up to see the horrible truth that is the suffering of others.
People are perfectly willing to give in order to make themselves feel better, but they don't want to see it, they want to protect their eyes, protect their families eyes from the truth. To hide in their little worlds and be safe.
How did the woman get where she was, was she a drug addict, an alcoholic, did she just have a tough break, did social security give her 100$ a month and it didn't pay the rent. It doesn't matter to them....hmm....waitress I need a refill...that's what there thinking. Stop dealing with the vagrant, get rid of her, and come fill up my coffee.
It makes me sick. True, I don't give money to every person I see here in Vegas, I'd be broke in a week, but I see how it is, I don't choose to ignore it. Not everyone on the street got there because of their own mistakes.
Anyway, I was just touched by it that's all. Me showing any type of feeling for anything doesn't happen very often, no matter what the situation, but on that night, with the mood I was in, it brought back all the memories of living in an alley, eating out of trash cans, snuggling up with cement walls for warmth. I was overwhelmed and my overall disgust for society nauseated me to no end.
As far as my life go, I have decided to open my coffee shop as planned, add in a CD and Tape store, and add in some other nice little features, however I have decided Vegas might not be the best place to do it. Instead, maybe some small town in the middle of buttfuck Cairo, to corrupt all the young minds out of their own made up realities, and trick them into waking up, and living their lives.
People carrying half eaten birthday cakes make me smile. And bologna samplers, oh yes...bologna samplers..
Bologna is a funny word, I mean if you say it how it sounds, its quite amusing,
ba-log-na. hahaha That's so great.
Yeah, I've gone a little off track..
<3
Dan
