Every !So! often: being human

Why is it that we consider ourselves civilized and so advanced? Why do we think we are better than animals? Honestly I think we are not as good as we think we are. Sometimes I wish I was not human. Why? Well to be honest it’s because being human I have observed the way we treat our fellow man and it disgusts me. It disgusts me that we are so “advanced” yet we fight each other for resources and things that don’t have any actual worth. How is it that we have been born on a planet with so much space, land and resources and yet so many don’t have the basic means to survive, while others have more than they and their entire family will ever use in their lifetime.

You may be wandering why I’m writing this, this is nerd culture type of website after all, and human needs don’t really have anything to do with computers, video games, anime or any other forms of nerd culture. If that’s what you are wondering, then I’ll just take a moment to say that this is every so often, my personal blog update on our site and its main topic is always inspired by something or someone I feel strongly about. Currently my disgust for my species is at the precipice of my coincidence. Why that is has to do with a homeless man that I interacted with earlier in the capital of my country, Trinidad and Tobago. This country is at the base of the Caribbean, just above South America. Trinidad despite its size is one of the few developed Caribbean countries. We are an “independent” republic with a lot of first world amenities like broadband internet, proper healthcare, universities, proper infrastructure and such. As a developed nation we are quite fortunate, and in some ways more so than some larger nations including the United States. So with all that good stuff said what of the people? Some say Trini’s are some of the most fun loving people on this planet and they may be right in that statement. We have a multiracial/cultural population, and all are technically treated equally (I say technically, because there is the occasionally that fool that ignorantly performs some racist act, but they are few and far between here). So like the country the people are probably among the best this world has to offer, however we share a trait with the rest of our species, a lack of caring for our fellow man.

I was leaving the capital of this so called developed country and decide to buy myself some KFC as I was not sure my family at home would have cooked today. On my way into the fast food outlet in the public transport hub I was approached by an old man. He looked at me, he was covered in dirt and what I will assume is his own filth. As is the custom with homeless people I avoided his gaze as he asked me for a dollar while responding sorry. After entering the food place I had a bad feeling, a feeling of guilt and sadness. I knew I had a few extra dollars on my person, but I still turned down a man in need. As I removed my money from my back pack I could see him looking at me from the other side of the glass. This was a man that was born just as me to a mother, and a father, a man that has two eyes as I do, hands, a beating heart, a human being. I don’t know his story of how he ended up in this unfortunate situation but should that matter? Is he not a human being just like me, who feels pain, and hunger? As those thoughts swam around in my mind I removed $2 from the money I had. The man had asked for one dollar but I was going to give him two and feel proud about it. What a self-righteous fool I was. It is obvious that he couldn’t get anything to eat from just $2 and if he could it wouldn’t be enough. As I opened the door to give him the $2 he looked at me, and I him. He said he was hungry and that he really didn’t want the money but something to eat, and if I could buy him a chicken at KFC, the same KFC I was standing in. I agreed and proceeded to buy a 3 piece combo. I told the casher to put one piece into a bag, and as I left I give him the chicken. He thanked me and I proceeded to get transport out of the capital.

Now with that over and done with some may feel proud that they helped someone in need, but I honestly feel ashamed of myself; because I believe I could have given him more. I had the money. I just did the bare minimal and it’s been bugging me as soon as I started walking away from him. I can’t change the way acted in that situation, but I can reflect and not make the same mistake. I know some of you are say that giving a homeless person something to eat won’t help them in the long run, that they will still be hungry later, and tomorrow. Yea I know that one small act of kindness is not going to save the man, but for that one moment that the person feels like a human again, that one moment that his fellow man helps him, and he survive just a bit longer is important. This world has too much for us to have homeless people. It is the structure of modern society that creates homelessness, and it won’t go away easily unless we undo current status quo. It is men that decide to charge each other for land, land that was initially free, land that is going to be there after we die. Men have put a price on everything, things that are naturally just there, all to maintain control.