I step off bus #1, remove my bike from the rack, and commence my wait for bus #2. As I guide my bike to the sidewalk, I see an amazing portrait. Two homeless men are sitting at the blue-canopied bus stop, each holding a partially eaten Big Mac. The two men have the look of so many men that you see around town this time of year… shaggy beard, ragged clothing deeply layered for warmth, knit cap, worn shoes and tattered gloves. One man has a cast on his left foot. A shopping cart stands nearby, containing a walker, a beat-up old gym bag, and a cardboard box. As I lift my gaze, I can see the huge red and gold McDonald’s sign above and behind the bus stop, with its accompanying American flag fluttering in the breeze.
Homeless men at a blue bus stop eating Big Macs under the Stars and Stripes. What a perfect representation of the times we live in. The incredible wealth of a conglomerate like McDonald’s contrasted to the incredible poverty of others in this country. The flag, our symbol of freedom, contrasted to the imprisonment of need. And as for the Big Macs – the fact that a large percentage of the most affluent country in the world subsists on a diet of white flour, dead cow and fat-soaked potato chunks is an incredible metaphor for this nation’s willingness to close its eyes to obvious problems.
Don’t get me wrong. I think McDonald’s French fries are the food of the gods. I delight in a Big Mac in a real moment of weakness. I turn up the volume on my denial about what I’m actually putting in my body, and gustily inhale “two all beef patty’s, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame bun.” For someone with no home and no food, I’m certain that a #1 Combo Meal is Heaven wrapped in a paper sack. This is not about McDonald’s. It’s about the inequities of wealth in America. It’s about the judgments people make when they see a ragtag person pushing their shopping cart down the road. And unfortunately, it’s about my own need to reprogram the judgmental thoughts that run through my mind before I rethink my automatic responses.
I’ve gotten better with time and awareness. I’ve gotten better since being inches away from homelessness myself a couple of times. I’ve become wiser with age, and less quick to judge about many things in life. But I still need work. I’m an enlightened, card carrying, bleeding heart liberal who believes the government should spend whatever it takes to help citizens in need, but even I occasionally slip back into the condemnatory and hypercritical mind-set of my youth. If it can happen to me, is there any hope for all those "just let 'em get a job" right-wingers out there?
Two homeless men sitting at a blue bus stop eating Big Macs under the Stars and Stripes. Norman Rockwell would probably have enjoyed painting the scene. Hang it next to "American Gothic." Title it "American Travesty." Enjoy your lunch, guys. It might be the last one for a long time.
