Yesterday I observed two " old " middle aged men , " lost souls " in our notorious Kennedy Plaza in Providence -a spot for years now worthy of any H.P. Lovecraft horror story with hopeless decay and decadence as an inexhaustible theme.
They both looked like late stage alcoholics well beyond " The Lost Weekend " condition. One as if sleep walking toward the bus shelter. The RIPTA 21 bus takes people to the Harrington Hall homeless shelter( also a nightmare ) in Cranston. His shabby clothes no protection from the bitter cold. A younger ( " homeless " ? ) man helped him board the RIPTA bus. The other emaciated, middle aged wretch could not find his bus pass and kept picking up loose one dollar bills from the floor of the bus. His brain now utterly stupefied by the life style of the down and out. ( Not as resourceful as George Orwell slumming it in Paris ).
And yet you can see these people years later in the same state - in the same place ( even if they don't live much past 60 ) .Capitalism also exploits our enormous capacity for misery and suffering . That was the dirty " secret " of ancient slavery. Better 20 years in the horrid silver and gold mines of ancient Greece and Rome than the ENDLESS NIGHT of the dead.
It is HOPE that gives working class people energy to rebel - not wretchedness.
" The Cop and the Anthem " by O'Henry
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