I saw something odd early last year, and decided to write about it, as it stuck in my mind .....
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| A Life Spilt On To The Concrete? |
....... It was the moment when a woman's life possibly changed.
She had apparently been transporting her life's belongings in a cheap suitcase, barely fit for purpose, from some place to another, possibly even less stable than the place she was leaving.However the suitcase had seemingly disastrously failed at the zip, and all her clothes and other worldly possessions had spilled onto the street .... she was busy repacking all her belongings into plastic bags when I passed her ... for some reason I didn't feel that it was suitable to offer to help her, because it felt like a moment that wasn't meant to be observed by others, and that an offer of help would just make the situation worse for her.
She was gone by the time I returned about 30 minutes later, and even the shoddy suitcase was missing, but I expect that it was just abandoned elsewhere and she proceeded on her way. All
this made me wonder if this was the moment that someone slipped from a
precarious existence, too close to the edge, to a life on the very edge
... almost a bag lady. Now obviously there could be other explanations, but somehow, in that moment it felt like a desperate event was taking place.
Its amazing how many of our fellows live
just one or two wage slips from disaster, or women who have to flee violent partners and run with whatever they can carry in a bag or suitcase. Who knows why this lady was
standing in the street, transferring her life into plastic bags, but
where she was possibly walking, far too many others could easily follow.
A rather sad story and observation. Life is full of little vignettes that we don't always observe closely enough. Because you felt constrained from offering assistance we'll never know her story.
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