Street Theatre – An Unfortunate

Change is inevitable and according to many the thing that is most feared by humans.

As change goes this one is reasonably mundane as we’ve just gone from Summer to Fall. Here in Canada Thanksgiving is the 2^nd Monday in October and there are already signs about for that holiday.

I live in the core of my City. The gamut runs from affluence to abject poverty. Like any where there are those with addictions and mental illness. Those with addictions and the most prevalent is alcohol. It isn’t pretty and it isn’t cute and at times it is something you choose not to deal with. Sometimes you are spectator to behaviour you simply do not understand. You are thankful, it isn’t you.

There are many who go by without really seeing what is there to be seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple days ago on my other site I posted this, “Street Theatre, I act too”. I considered putting this on the other blog as it is relational and would fit. Yet reason, compassion and awareness dictate that the piece belongs here on transitionu.

The encounter with the individual a couple days ago was direct and in my face. When something gets up in your face space you gotta deal with it. How I dealt with that encounter was prudent. It was the absolute best way to handle a direct encounter. There may be others out there who think or believe I was wrong to conduct myself in the manner I did and quite frankly I really don’t care what others think. I didn’t need or want the aggravation or possible confrontation and got it stopped before anything could start without unpleasantness.

I was outside one of those 4 coffee spots I like and saw a different well known man sitting and panhandling. He also had a turkey leg. Darn fine looking turkey leg it was too. I wouldn’t have minded one of them drum sticks for myself.

This encounter was different. It was completely observational without contact. The individual is well known to the residents, merchants and those that work in the neighbourhood. I took no photograph of the individual in this encounter. To do so would have been immoral and unethical. The truth is the person didn’t even know I was standing beside them and taking photographs.

I watched the as the flesh was torn off and tossed on to the electrical vault followed by the bone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve seen many things and there just aint been a whole hell of a lot that phased me. What I saw next, well this is how I described it in a note to a friend with a couple of the turkey shots.

This guy sits for a couple minutes and then he decides he wants the bone and friend honey it was a frickin’ caveman moment. He waves the bone around and I’m not sure if it was meant to be a club or sheesh a drum stick drum stick. He then places the bone back beside the flesh. He just looks at the turkey and bone for a minute and then reaches back out. I figured oh no he’s going to eat that turkey but no, he grabs the bone, puts it in his little black bag and leaves.

I have no idea why the cover of that electrical vault mattered in this encounter but it did. If someone offered to tell me what that reasoning was I honestly don’t think I’d even want to know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Street Theatre and what I saw sure as hell shocked me from front row centre. The show moved me so much I just had to share the horror, surprise and utter disbelief.

I saw this man sitting and panhandling not far from the coffee spot last night. I had a couple juice boxes and handed them to the man on my way by. Not a word was spoken between us. I just continued on in to the night thinking about how this unfortunate I’d seen had changed my perspective once again.

G.R. Hambley – all rights
September 26, 3015