Will They Miss You?
February 25, 2009 He’s there every Sunday. It doesn’t matter if it’s 105 degrees or sleeting. I’ve seen him at sunup, and I’ve seen him at sundown. He’s always there.
At a busy intersection near where I live, there’s a guy on the median every Sunday, hawking newspapers. I don’t know how long ago it was that I actually noticed him, and I suppose if the light was always green, I wouldn’t have noticed him. The first time I gave him even a few seconds of thought was when the light turned red and I had to stop, and I had to look at him. It was raining that day and there he was under an umbrella, and that was the last time I thought about him until I saw him under that same umbrella. But this time it was so hot it would knock a camel to his knees.
If the price of newspapers goes up, will he make more? Probably not.
You know how it is when you’re stopped in traffic and a bum starts knocking on your window, begging for change? You don’t want to look at him, and you certainly don’t want to think about him. You have no idea what his situation is, but yet you say to yourself that all he wants is a handout, whether it be from you or the government. Well, that was my first impression of this guy. I’m ashamed of that thought now.
I had to wonder how early he has to get out of bed to be there at sunrise. How late does he have to work to go home with more money in his pockets than he started the day with? Who knows if he’ll take anything home? He rolls out of bed, and he rolls the dice.
If the price of newspapers goes down, will he make less? Count on it.
To most people, he’s just some nameless, faceless guy giving them what they expect on Sunday mornings. Do they really care where their newspaper comes from, as long as it’s right there when they want it? Do they care if their newspaper comes from a vending machine at the Handy Dandy or from somebody on that median or from the tooth fairy? They just want it, and they want it cheap.
If the price of newspapers goes up, will he make more? Probably not. If the price of newspapers goes down, will he make less? Count on it.
He will only be noticed when people go looking for a Sunday newspaper and he’s not there. Then, and only then, will people start to care about where their newspaper comes from.
He’s not so unlike farmers is he?
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