Jane Be Nimble, Jane Be Quick

When you are from a small town, you help those who seem to be in need. When I was growing up, I was used to my mom and dad being helpful, concerned, and accomodating to those who seemed to need something. If you saw a kid who was lost you took him under your wing, if someone was drunk and alone you called someone to pick them up, if a dog was missing you walked it to the nearest house to return it to an owner.

In the city, the destitution is abounding and everywhere you look there is someone who is lost, in need, or generally out of luck. Today this girl was on my bus and she could barely keep her eyes open. When her stop came up she stood but did not move. She looked just over 18, not much past 20. Pretty but her eyes lost, her face dancing to the melodic dumbness in her brain. Everyone was yelling at her. "Get off the damn bus!" The bus driver escorted her off and then the girl stumbled across the street. The girl next to me was annoyed. "What is she doing?" We all sat on the bus with no driver. "I think she's drunk," I said, laughing, but also sad. "Well whatever she is, she needs to get herself to where she's going." Just as we finished our conversation we looked over and the girl nearly fell. Nearby a man made a face about it and then caught eyes with us and we all laughed, through the window, at the girl, and the man who thought she must be crazy. "She's on drugs. That ain't liqour," the woman said. I looked at the girl again, she was seriously incoherent. The bus pulled away.

All the way to work I couldn't stop thinking why didn't someone put her in a cab? why didn't someone call her mother?. It's what my parents would do if she was walking through a parking lot back home. Why didn't I help her? was the deeper anxiety ridden question in my stomach.

Today, when I got to work, a colleague thanked me for being nimble about a work situation. I kept thinking, nimble..nimble...Jack be nimble, jack be quick. If I just would've offered to call someone for her. If I just would've been quicker to help.

I'm not nimble. Maybe I think I can save the world but I can't. Maybe I get too caught up or think that one small good deed can make a difference.

But one time I was crossing the street with an elderly woman. A truck came at us, I stopped and backed up. But she continued past me, clueless. I grabbed her arm and yanked her back "whoa!" The wind from the truck fiercly brushed against our faces. The woman, startled, said "I need knew glasses. I didn't even see. I didn't even see." "It's ok," I said. "We can go now."

I just think it doesn't hurt, you know, to take the time to care. Next time I guess. Next time.