do unto others...

a pair of legs. they belong to a man who was sleeping on the train platform when i was on my way home from work tonight.

it got me thinking. it's an odd little dichotomy, wanting to make sure he was alive and not dead yet being afraid that if i woke him up he might not be happy to be woken up. in a violent way.

that's the lovely way our society works. the fear that's involved in doing good things or helping people. we always think the worst.

some cops were hanging around a street over, so i told them about it. if he was sick, someone had to do something.

and i know someone out there is judging me for photographing him, but i felt caught up in the journalistic moment - documenting and sharing. at least i'm not one of those people who goes off to war and takes pictures of the tormented people clutching the wounded and dead instead of helping them and i didn't ignore him or leave him to die if he was sick. for cripes' sake, i even concealed his idenity by photographing only his legs.

sometimes i just think people won't do something about these kinds of things until they see them first hand. is there really a reason anyone should have to live like that? whether you got there because of things outside your control or because you're mentally ill or addicted to drugs, no one should have to live like that.

no matter what your beliefs are about homelessness, donate something to a charity that will help these people if you can afford to. honestly, i used to make so many excuses not to do so, but now that i can actually afford to, i try to give when someone is collecting for charity because i realize so much that no matter how much i hate certain aspects of my life, it could be a WHOLE lot worse. and, if it did get worse, i'd want someone to be there for me.

so yeah. i'm gonna get off the soapbox now, have a good night.