Yesterday I was taking the A train in New York City from way uptown down to Penn Station. On this seemingly endless journey, at one point a man entered our crowded car and in a loud voice, one trembling with emotion and pain, begged for food, water, and medicine. He said he was in great pain, had not eaten much, and was asking any of us for some help. Several times he reiterated his tale. As he spoke, he stumbled through the car, eating a banana. I was acutely aware of him but did not look up.
Suppliants on the subway is a fairly normal event in NYC and no one looked at him or made any move to help him. Many had earbuds in, so they may not have even heard his speech. I was transfixed by the pain in his pleading voice, his disheveled appearance, and his convincing pleas for mercy in the form of… any help. However, I too ignored him, looking down at my phone and adopting the quintessential New Yorker attitude of complete indifference. The thought flitted through my mind: why didn’t he go to a soup kitchen or homeless shelter for a meal? But followed by: who am I to judge need and abject misery?
But I wondered. What is the cost of my callous indifference, my turning away from genuine desperation? I sometimes have to ask myself if this is Christ, returned and looking for any sense of compassion and care among the us. What moral obligation do I have to help? Am I failing some important challenge from the universe?
Now, many would say: he is probably fishing for money to buy drugs or alcohol, or to simply prey on the tenderhearted. And this is a regular subway gig for too many. Don’t be naïve. It is all a scam.
But is it? Or is it a test of our basic humanity? But then, he threw his banana peel on the floor and moved down the car. My attitude shifted: why litter? Why create a potential hazard for someone walking into the car? Did he do this on purpose or was it a blind action of despair? For a second my discomfort with myself shifted to him: what the heck?
But should that matter? In a world of imperfect human beings, if we are fortunate enough to have… something, does that give us the right to dismiss those who have nothing and are in genuine pain of abandonment? --Who suffer, whether due to their own choices or the harsh circumstances of our world?
What ought I, we, have done?