Kiwi On The Loose

It is a seriously disturbing thing riding 13 miles up Broadway to turn right up Colfax in Denver. Whether its the morning wake up call or evening rush home hour,  this ‘kiwi’ has seen things that I guess exist in New Zealand but not with the intensity or frequency one encounters them on this ride. Things that you don’t really want to see or be aware of there existence. Knowledge creates some kind of responsibility or response if not external action then internal processing of the heart, mind and soul. Well @ least that’s how it is with me!

Processing that goes beyond the likes of one guy I was riding with just saying ‘Go get a job you mother (you know the rest)! ‘

In NZ we do not see beggars with cardboard signs, them having given up on any dignity whatsoever and bludging for 25 cents or anything to help them. All cardboard signs ( that have various wordings) end with the message of God Bless you. They nearly all also contain the phrase ‘anything helps’. Often these signs are accompanied by appropriate facial expressions, which sometimes look very fake, and can be held by male or females and a range of ages. I have seen 18-19 year olds holding them.

Visually confronting people begging is not limited to Broadway or Colfax, they can be seen all over Denver @ intersections, and all with the cardboard sign. I hope to get a photo sometime.

So here I was one evening at 6pm, riding home down Colfax and I pass this guy, (shown below). I had really been grappling with the ugliness I was seeing, realising full well that reality  (or so they say) is a matter of ones own choosing, these realities I saw on the streets were real, touchable and were possibly tainted by my struggles with answers to the questions of why on earth do Americans think they are so great a nation when I saw all this sadness on the footpaths. Very few people looked happy.

But as I said, I saw this guy and in a very Blind Poet moment decided to confront the truth. I sat down beside him and said I wanted to know his story, how did he get like this and how I had this dilema of thinking all people in this situation in the land of opportunity must be losers! (of course I said it differently, and of course I didn’t really think it BUT it seemed to be the general opinion, even among non red necks).

I am so glad I stopped. I had seen real weirdos, wackos, red eyed obviously unbalanced talk to themselves types, I had seen the rabid drunks sitting with their backs to the wall on the pavements, the obviously insane…the dope smokers @ the intersections………..and I wondered what the hell I was gona find here.

I found Steven.

and the rest of the story is gonna have to wait for another day.

but to process my thoughts I posted a photo. CLICK HERE

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