Human Nature

I was waiting in the rain for the bus to come and cursing myself for being too lazy to walk. Behind me, I heard some kids. They made the usual row that kids make. I usually don't mind it. It sounded different though.

When I turned around, I saw that the kids were throwing shoes and trash at a homelsess man. They were having a great ole time doing it. The man had been sleeping for sometime on the bench (at least he was a sleep when I came up near the shed where one waits for the bus). He got up but did not react to the kids. He stared off into space, a bit as if he was used to being treated this way.

Feeling all of a sudden about 20 years older than I am, I turned around and in what I like to call "the Voice" told the kids to stop what they are doing and to leave the man alone. They stopped immediately and moved on their way, probably cursing me. These kids were about 15 or so. There was no guarantee that they would have responded to 'the Voice." They did. The man just turned over and as my bus came down the street, life seemed to go on as usual.