I had another ride along today. It went well. Not very busy but something is better than nothing. I always find my ride alongs a lesson in humility. I usually end up dealing w/the down-trodden and cast aways of society. Whether by fault or fate, life dealt these folks a shitty hand. Some make the best of it, others wallow in their misery. Either way, I’m reminded of how lucky I am and how far we need to go as a society before we can even begin to throw around terms like “civilized”. It is unthinkable that we allow folks to sink to such lows.
While responding to a victim of an assualt, we happen to see a man walking the streets sort of erratically. The most striking trait is the odd color of his hands. By odd, they were completely purple. Not a good sign regardless of the reason. It becomes apparent said person isn’t dealing w/a full deck as we watch him perform a sort of hopscotch of hopping back and forth across the street. PD was onscene and mentioned he’d been 5150’d (psych eval’d) previously on several occasions. Uh, yeah! Here we have a man that w/medication and just a modicum of daily intervention could lead a normal even productive life. Thanks to a variety of issues, including our shitty no-good piece-of-shit president’s policy of robbing this country of any social programs, this poor soul is left homeless and forgotten. He wanders the streets on a daily basis in a cloud of chemical dysfuntion. And true to description, after dealing w/our current patient, we can’t find him. Lost once again in the daily shuffle of life. He is but one of many such people in this city. And not just SF, you could pick any large city in the US and encounter a similar problem.
Oh, and our assault victim? A victim true enough. But, as soon as PD left, he hopped out of the ambulance and was on his way. He was what we call a “repeat offender”. Someone who works the ins and outs of the system just so he can get a ‘free ride’. But how free is it when your life is at the whim of social services, housed in squalor, and totally dependent on the kindness of others?
At day’s end I find my faith in my current career choice renewed. I may not be able to save them all but I know I can make a difference. Even if that “difference” is a compassionate face in the chain of faces one must endure when faced w/a life on the streets.
You have a pretty fascinating job. It’s rare to be given that much insight into the lives of others as much as you have been. You definitely seem to make the most of it, and really try to gain understanding from these kind of situations. It’s always cool reading about your job.
I never ended up in the Tenderloin, but I did live in the CIVIC CENTER and NATIONAL hotels. To help with my rent, I worked the front desk at night. One night a room caught on fire and I had to put it out myself because we were NOT allowed to ever call for fire or police help (safety inspections and all). I was also keeper of the heat; they got one hour at night and another hour in the morning (that’s the minimum required by law). Don’t tell anybody, but I used to run it a little longer on very cold nights.
This just breaks my heart. An important reminder that we all need to do what we can for others. Thanks for sharing that Moby.
3T
If we all just had a bit more compassion, think of the difference that would be made. Keep pluggin’ along Moby.
Thanks for sharing. In your line of work you definatly see a side of society we rarely get to see.