I'm starting to see the strings.
A man in front of me dropped $10 on the floor as I was walking down 17th street. With the two people in front of me, I wasn't sure which one of them had made this boo-boo. I swooped down and grabbed it, and was faced with two immediate choices: Pocket it, or chase the man down. I opted for the latter and chased the first one down. I repeatedly said: "SIR! SIR!" In my most projected, stentorian voice, to no response. Naturally, he was wearing earphones. I tapped him on the shoulder, and he looked pretty damn surprised that someone was touching him. (No lie, I would be, too.)
I asked if he'd dropped the money, and he shook his head. I noted that he had been faced with two options: 1.) Lie and Gain $10, or 2.) Don't lie and don't gain $10. He, like me, chose the latter.
I chased down the other man and shouted more "SIR! EXCUSE ME SIR!" And finally had to tap the second man on the shoulder. He turned, surprised, and accepted the $10 with a nod and "thanks".
Now, I think I did the right thing here, because it had fallen from one of their pockets. However, I have a tendency to mix up similar looking white men. The second gentleman could very well have simply lied, because he didn't seem that thankful at all that I'd taken my time and energy to make sure he didn't lose his $10.
Had he not claimed it, I would've put it in a homeless person's begging cup, given that he or she didn't have nice shoes and given that he or she didn't shake the change cup at me. (The former usually indicates that they're not homeless, the latter is simply annoying as hell.)
A funny thought comes up in terms of headphones, or the proper etiquette when talking to strangers, etc. We're so used to diving into our own personal spaces and tuning everything out around us. Homeless people constantly beg us for our attention, lobbyists and street teams wave their petitions, propaganda, various what-have-you's in our direction. We've just trained ourselves to ignore them. At least in DC, and I can assume the same is true in many big cities, that we've lost sympathy and human connection. No one seems to remember that the person next to them is a fellow human being unless they 'know' one another, whatever that means.
As I walk around DC, ride around metro, head into stores, etc, I find that people are simply unforgiving and thankless. Doesn't this create a vicious cycle? We go above and beyond and are met with nothing. We're horrid to the next person and we get what we want. Kindness is met with nothing, and rudeness is met with deference, and so forth. So, not a circle, but a spiral. A horrifying slow downward spiral. I'm not asking for a return to chivalry, by any means, but merely just trying to point out that our moral compasses are intrinsically selfish. We don't make time for kindness, because we need that time to get quickly to our next destination. The 'up-and-go' attitude of cities is distressing to many people who live outside of them, and I understand why. (In return, they don't seem to understand why we're always rushing to get onto our metro cars or our buses.)
Mind you, I understand that any number of these people are probably kind to their friends, to their family, etc. But I don't see why it only extends to people from whom you can receive something in return. I think this is just the way we've evolved as a species. Our survival instincts tell us, naturally, to focus on the self. But since we don't have any real natural predators, the most major harm comes from other people. I'm assuming that we 'preserve' ourselves, our packs and our kin, those we take under our wing, from all of the strangers, as an animalistic precaution. But, we've evolved. We've had thousands of years to get over that. Until people start actively working on it, we can never evolve past this.
I asked if he'd dropped the money, and he shook his head. I noted that he had been faced with two options: 1.) Lie and Gain $10, or 2.) Don't lie and don't gain $10. He, like me, chose the latter.
I chased down the other man and shouted more "SIR! EXCUSE ME SIR!" And finally had to tap the second man on the shoulder. He turned, surprised, and accepted the $10 with a nod and "thanks".
Now, I think I did the right thing here, because it had fallen from one of their pockets. However, I have a tendency to mix up similar looking white men. The second gentleman could very well have simply lied, because he didn't seem that thankful at all that I'd taken my time and energy to make sure he didn't lose his $10.
Had he not claimed it, I would've put it in a homeless person's begging cup, given that he or she didn't have nice shoes and given that he or she didn't shake the change cup at me. (The former usually indicates that they're not homeless, the latter is simply annoying as hell.)
A funny thought comes up in terms of headphones, or the proper etiquette when talking to strangers, etc. We're so used to diving into our own personal spaces and tuning everything out around us. Homeless people constantly beg us for our attention, lobbyists and street teams wave their petitions, propaganda, various what-have-you's in our direction. We've just trained ourselves to ignore them. At least in DC, and I can assume the same is true in many big cities, that we've lost sympathy and human connection. No one seems to remember that the person next to them is a fellow human being unless they 'know' one another, whatever that means.
As I walk around DC, ride around metro, head into stores, etc, I find that people are simply unforgiving and thankless. Doesn't this create a vicious cycle? We go above and beyond and are met with nothing. We're horrid to the next person and we get what we want. Kindness is met with nothing, and rudeness is met with deference, and so forth. So, not a circle, but a spiral. A horrifying slow downward spiral. I'm not asking for a return to chivalry, by any means, but merely just trying to point out that our moral compasses are intrinsically selfish. We don't make time for kindness, because we need that time to get quickly to our next destination. The 'up-and-go' attitude of cities is distressing to many people who live outside of them, and I understand why. (In return, they don't seem to understand why we're always rushing to get onto our metro cars or our buses.)
Mind you, I understand that any number of these people are probably kind to their friends, to their family, etc. But I don't see why it only extends to people from whom you can receive something in return. I think this is just the way we've evolved as a species. Our survival instincts tell us, naturally, to focus on the self. But since we don't have any real natural predators, the most major harm comes from other people. I'm assuming that we 'preserve' ourselves, our packs and our kin, those we take under our wing, from all of the strangers, as an animalistic precaution. But, we've evolved. We've had thousands of years to get over that. Until people start actively working on it, we can never evolve past this.