In the last week...

Snow fell all over a Seattle and as a result the no. 5 had a slight wreck at the corner where I normally catch it. I walked down three blocks from the wreck to the corner of Phinney and 43rd avenue where i saw a small group of people waiting for the bus to come and pick them up, Americans are a hardy bunch of folks that have their priorities all screwed up, work first, safety second. I alerted the faithful travelers that their bus would not be picking them up on account of the accident just over the hill and out of their view.

I crossed the snow-covered street, took a few pictures and then proceeded to make my way into my favorite coffee shop. I sat at the bar top and had a conversation with a barista named Leah. As she stamped to go cups with the company logo she told me about working at the coffee shop and how she was from Alaska and had a hard time living in Seattle because she is used to wide open spaces. I told her I liked Seattle because I felt it gave me the much-needed space I was looking for.

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Today William told me of how disgusted he was with the way people reacted (or their collective lack there-of) to a mans cry for help. Last night while at work he said a man jumped from the I-5 Bridge and into the Lake Union waterway some couple hundred feet below. The mans body was pulled from the water and laid upon the boat dock that Ivars (the restaurant William and I work at) owns. And while the police and paramedics attempted to give this man another chance at life, the patrons who sat not but 20 feet away and only separated by a thin sheet of glass continued to order drinks and food as if nothing was happening. It was after all their day off and a Saturday night to boot and God forbid anything should stop them from enjoying their lives, right? And besides, he committed suicide so he did it to himself, right? He should have been able to pull himself up by his bootstraps and carry on with life like the rest of us! I mean we all have bad days; we just can’t let those days get to us. It’s as simple as that, right?

To hell with you, you insensitive, calloused people. Instead of taking a few minutes of your precious time to stop and reflect on what may have driven this man to jumping from a bridge you act like nothing is happening! You order drinks and food while a desperate mans plea for help, his final and most dramatic plea, goes unheeded. That mans jump from a bridge ended his life. And in the process it gave a glimpse into the lives of those surrounding him. When things that should break your heart no longer do than you know you have stopped living.

Has America become a country filled with people whose hearts cannot be broken because they no longer have hearts to break?