looking in a mirror and speaking words of wisdom

yesterday i was walking on the train platform and passed a familiar homeless woman who was getting up from her usual bench spot and began to wipe her seat off with lysol wipes (if you guys are looking for the cleanest wooden bench seat in the history of disgusting wooden bench seats on a subway platform - hit up west fourth street).

this woman is spending what she has on cleaning up her leftovers. she's walking around with the knowledge that she's dirty and that just being is offending someone else. i think what i hate even more is that she probably is offending someone. maybe she had an accident on the bench and i wasn't there to see the first part. i don't know the whole story - no one does. i do know that those benches are filthy and that she's not the first dirty person to rest her cheeks on it. and i do know that if we all spent what we had on things to clean up our messes, we'd be broke.

the other day i went for a walk with my sister-in-law across the bridge next to our houses. i crossed it thinking about all of the movies that are shot on it or have this bridge in it. i thought about all the other movies and shows bridges are in. aerial views of bridges are cool because they show how a gigantic gap can be connected. walking a bridge is cool because you are a part of that process of connection. different angles all around you... looking to your left is maybe a prettier view than turning to your right. but the connection is what's important.

what if we paid more attention to connection than separation; to walking the bridge and not the amount of steps it takes to get to the other side? what if we spent more time figuring out how we're connected, than cleaning up our messes so the separation stays the same. what would happen if you stopped thinking that being a practicing homosexual has any bearing on the goodness of someone's heart or intentions? what would happen if i disagreed with decisions people i loved were making and said, "being apart of your world, means supporting you when it hurts"?  what would happen if you stopped thinking about people in terms of skin color? finances? brackets? if you stopped turning kids into math equations that fit or don't fit into previous statistics? if i stopped thinking that where i live is better than where you live or that how i choose to spend my downtime is any better or worse than how you spend yours?

bridges are beautiful. embrace the walk, joy.