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I saw the book Babbitt at the B&N but deferred purchasing it as I was do for an Extremely Expensive Auto Repair Event. The following day I went to the library and they did not have the book on their shelves but they had Main Street, so I borrowed that, and an autobiography of Ginger Rogers (recently watched a bunch of her movies on TCM, all set either during or right after the Great Depression).
On the day of my E.E.A.R.E., I dropped my car off and then hiked across the 5 lane highway to the mall across the street to catch the bus home. Unfortunately ,(no thanks to the bus driver) I got on the wrong bus and was transported to the end of the line, the state college campus in a town in the next county. Luckily, another bus came that was returning to my neck of the woods within 10 minutes.
My ride on the bus was eye opening. One middle aged man say a very cheery hello and smiled and I greeted him back and took a seat close by. A college student boarded after me and he gave her a greeting, she said hi very lightly with a "what a freak" look on her face and sat in the back. After my initial panic when the bus driver did not turn down the expected road and dawning realization where I was headed as she turned in the exact opposite direction (would not be able to catch the bus back from there and it was very cold and very far from my destination, the bus dry and warm)--I settled down and watched the Seneca River wind its way up North , squeeze into the canal locks and push back out to Lake Ontario; I listened to the banter between this Warm Friendly Man and the bus driver and the other riders that boarded the bus at different stops in the small backwater towns of Oswego County.
These people really have nothing, they either collect disability, live on welfare or work very low paying jobs. They have made mistakes in their personal lives and have no education to recommend them, some have no family or worse, predatory family. However, I have never overheard such generosity in spirit to each other. The first conversation was about Christmas plans. The bus driver was visiting her daughter, WFM said it was going to be very quiet for him, he was likely spending it alone but was embarrased to admit it, judging from the bashful tone to his voice. The tone was cordial and they continued, sharing parts of themselves.
One hard lived man, Carrying A Torch came on and announced his wife, who left him for some guy she met over the internet was hurting to make ends meet as the guy wasn't working or paying bills and the kids were hungry. He was giving her money but had none left. His daughter called him for some money for food and he told her he had to wait for a check and she called him worthless. He revealed she was 17 and smoking pot and she was mad at him for making her take drug tests. WFM said, "Oh, she's not herself, she doesn't mean it." CAT said he understood, he was hooked on pills himself in the past and neglected his family and he was very sorry and has been sober from any and all pharmaceuticals for 21 months, won't even take an aspirin for his (injured) back. He knows that good things will come to those who wait and forgive and he was sure his wife would get fed up with this boyfriend (who he knows is carrying on with four other women on the internets) and she will come back. Meanwhile his in-laws were housing and feeding him while he got on his feet. Next came a young woman. She greeted the men and soon the bus came to their spot. CAT got off the bus first, then they young woman helped WFM off. WFM had a bad leg and used a cane. His gratitude for her assistance was effusive. She said don't worry, it's second nature. They wished each other Merry Christmas.
Kind Woman and Bus Driver chatted. KW said she was concerned about the upcoming full moon as she works in a nursing home and her patients sundown. They sometimes get combative. She also talked of her children and food prices. They had some mutual friends from work as the bus driver worked another job with them. KW seemed concerned about hitting her overtime right so she would see it in her check before Christmas. She talked about her father who worked split shifts and took on extra jobs into his 70's. "He likes to be busy."
The ride back was similar except my bus driver Scott was a guy and there was a succession of people who would sit in the seat catty corner from the drivers and chat with him. When one got off the bus. another would drift up and sit and chat. One complained about his cousin, the slumlord, who was trying the cheat him out of insurance money from a car accident. Another one "Eddie" discussed another regular and how he was doing, he had been in the hospital and Eddie visited him recently.
What struck me about all these people is that being down on their luck was not a newsflash but a way of life. There was talk of troubles but not resentment (except perhaps the flimflam boyfriend and fleeing slumlord). No one was name dropping or "one-upping" each other. In my work, I've had many conversations with these people, perhaps not these specific ones but their neighbors or parents or cousins. These patients never sue. They are almost always suspected of drug seeking when they call back for a script renewal for pain meds.
Anyway, I did finally get home and a few hours later took another bus back to the auto repair garage, the correct one this time, the bus driver was kind enough to pull over to the right and let me off at the plaza so i wouldn't have to cross that busy road. At 4pm, that highway gets very busy and it was getting dark. I sat at the garage, reading Main Street, waiting for my car to be finished and a young woman comes in and says "I think my brakes are very bad, can you fix them?" They told her probably in the morning, they were closing in an hour and it would take longer as they had other jobs to finish. She worked at the hospital in the morning and told them it was impossible. She had worn her brake pads to metal and the calipers were rusted and stuck so they all had to be replaced. The mechanics not only fixed her car and replaced her brakes so she would be safe on the road, they also continued to work on my car well over a half hour after their closing.
Aas I read the paragraphs quoted in the original post I admit I was simultaneously laughing at the irony and pissed off royal. None of the people I encountered throughout the day was greedy. In fact, I think they often made decisions against their own financial best interests (refusals to sue in situations, giving generously of what little they had). The men at the garage were friendly and courteous to all who walked in, no matter what their complaint. Even the bus driver who inadvertently allowed me to get on the bus after I told her where I was going probably just had one of those moments and was very apologetic when she realized the error. Then to reflect on the news of executives still demanding millions of dollars of bonuses they didn't earn! Senators complaining of labor and workers!!!!! Blaming them for the failure of the auto industry when they didn't set trade policy, vote on deregulation, underwrite bank loans or engineer cars nor develop and implement projects; they just came into work every day and did their job according to contract.
I thought, "Talk about an echo chamber, they've been sitting in it for almost 90 years! Republicans, getting it wrong over the century.
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