RDP Friday – Isolate

Photo A.M. Moscoso

Pioneer Square is sort of functioning- some businesses are open but the usual hordes of workers are not here.

What is still here are the homeless people and they seem to be enjoying the elbow room.

They’re oblivious to traffic signals and crosswalk lights ( yeah well, it’s not like there are a lot of vehicles on the road ) and a few of them are actually laughing- it’s not the tight on edge laugh that verges on a scream.

Maybe it’s  a relief to them to not be actively ignored by every single person who walks by  with a phone in one hand and a Starbucks cup in the other.

That little snap shot aside,  what you can really see today- that when you take out the ‘haves’ and leave the ‘have nots’ is how stark and sad and desperate the homeless situation is.

There is no distracting you from the woman who is half dressed and with no shoes on and dirt ground into her hands and face is crying for her Mom because  she is tired and cold and wants to go to bed.

I’ll bet she says the same thing every day, but does anyone ever see her? Hear her? Probably not. But today there are no distractions and  today she will get your undivided attention and if you don’t see her on a day like this, it’s safe to say you lack any measure of empathy or anything that could pass for a Soul.

Today  the emptiness of Pioneer Square blew that woman in my mind’s eye up to epic proportions.

I can take the train into Seattle and I can take it out again. If I get sick I can crawl into my warm cozy bed with my TV remote close by and my favorite comfort foods and medicines  in my pantry and medicine cabinet if I need them.

I even have a dog and a cat to keep me company and if I need help I can get it from my family.

I am not alone.

But here in Pioneer Square life- such as it is,  will go on for the ‘have nots’- but those of us who” have” won’t be here to see it- not that some of us ever did.

Photo A.M. Moscoso