Needed- SOMEBODY to spit on

On the bus this morning I observed a young black male

    wearing head phones - perhaps a URI student - taunting

    from the safety of the back seat of Bus 66 a young

    " Aryan " looking derelict on the sidewalk. The sullen blonde

    kid had moments earlier asked me for a cigarette or change

    - " for the homeless ". I don't smoke , I told him , and

    " I have to go to the bank ".

            I wondered about the  real background of the kid who

    reminded me a little of a troubled nephew who visited

    Germany recently with visions of heroic Nazis dancing in

    his head. And a race war Apocalypse.

           The black " scholar " ( ? ) teased him from the

    open window : " Get a job... get a job ! "

          For me this was all a little amusing. I said to

    the black youth : " Well when your THAT poor , you should

    at least give up cigarettes . " But I also thought :

    " Do we all need SOMEBODY to look down on ? "

           Is contempt for certain others mentally healthy - a

    sort of psychological safety valve ?

           I think not. The black youth said that the kid

    could at least work at McDonald's . But it is good

    to trust the people who make your hamburgers !


             On the bus I read a 1950s science fiction story

    about an alien  alone in a flying saucer who finds

    only loneliness in the immensity of space. But the

    FBI cannot even guess his " secret " .