Thoroughly Thursday - The Civic Duty Edition
This week, I try to be a good citizen. Also, the potential economic cost of climate change, a lighter take on Armageddon, and a new short film from the Spider-Verse.
Welcome back to Thoroughly Thursday, the Civic Duty Edition. When I was younger, I would see problems within my community and think, “Someone should do something about that.” I didn’t know who that “Someone” was, but I assumed it was a person older and wiser than myself. Over time, I realized that I was that “someone,” and while not necessarily wiser, the older version of me has tried to be a responsible citizen.
A few days ago, I had to be up before dawn for an early morning drop-off. Once it was done, I realized I had some time to kill and walked over to a local coffee shop. I grabbed my coffee and sat down to journal for the first time in ages. Then, I noticed a disheveled young man come out of the bathroom. His face was bruised as if he had lost a fistfight, and he had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. In his hand, he carried an empty plastic bag. He went up to the barista and asked for a plastic straw. Once she gave it to him, he turned and shuffled back into the bathroom.
I went back to my journal. Ten minutes passed, and the man didn’t come out of the bathroom. Then it was 15 minutes. I looked around. No one else seemed to notice that the bathroom was occupied and might not be back in service for the rest of the morning.
I closed my journal. I should do something here, shouldn’t I? What if he is hurt or making a mess, or he curled up in the bathroom and went to sleep? What happens if someone else needs to use the bathroom and they can’t go?
I looked at the barista, who was working and apparently not concerned that some stranger had obviously used the straw to overdose on drugs (maybe). Should I say something to her?
Years ago, I got a t-shirt that included a series of “truisms” by the artist Jenny Holzer. While there are a number of excellent pithy sayings1, recently, I have a tendency to consider this one:
Mostly, you should mind your own business.
Due to my combination of being a middle-aged dad, a project manager, and someone who is desperate for approval, I often feel compelled to fix situations that have nothing to do with me.
I took a breath and reconsidered what I was supposed to do at that moment. I was not an employee, and no one seemed to be in danger. Maybe the guy had fallen on his plastic straw and taken out an eye, but perhaps he had other uses for it.2 As much as I wanted to be a supportive community member, the reality was I would be interfering in a situation I knew nothing about.
I re-opened my journal. A few minutes later, the man came out of the bathroom and sat down at a table. He folded his blanket and placed it in the plastic bag, then pulled out his phone and started scrolling through Instagram. A little while after that, someone else went into the bathroom. No one screamed, no one shouted for help. No one else asked for a straw.
I closed my journal and got up to leave. My work here was done.
Take care, my friends, and try to be a responsible citizen (when it is appropriate).
A few cool things I have seen/read or have been sent from readers this week, in no particular order:
ARTICLE: The science journal Nature just released an article titled The Economic Commitment of Climate Change, in which scientists and economists project that the global cost of fighting the effects of climate change will shrink the worldwide GDP by $38 trillion by 2050, effectively reducing incomes by an average of 19% for everyone of Earth. Unfortunately, this is a best-case scenario that assumes a rapid reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Sadly, it could end up being much worse. While that news is terrifying, the circumstances showed me something even more disturbing. I found this article via the site Ground News, which presents the news of the day but also shows where it is being reported and the ways certain biases can influence the presentation. Unfortunately, this news, while getting a fair amount of play in left-leaning and mainstream news sources, is getting almost no coverage on those news sources that lean right.
TV: This week I’ve been enjoying Amazon Prime’s version of the apocalypse in the new series Fallout. It is similar to shows like The Last of Us, in which humanity is struggling to survive after a terrible worldwide cataclysm. However, Fallout is decidedly more light-hearted, with a more tongue-in-cheek approach to the end of the world. If you are okay with characters that earnestly say “Okiedokie” in the midst of crazy cartoon violence, you’ll have a great time.
VIDEO: If you are a fan of the Spider-Verse movies, you’ll be happy to know that Sony Pictures partnered with the Kevin Love Fund and released a short film, The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story, featuring high-schooler Miles Morales (a.k.a. Spider-Man). Per the promo: “Because everyone is going through something, even superheroes like Miles.”
What I'm Thinking About - How One Should Spend Their Time
“To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.”
- T.S. Eliot
All the best, and remember, tomorrow is Friday. :)
Scott
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P.P.S. The creator of xkcd has created a short video on the magnitude of earthquakes, which can range from something strong enough to break the Earth apart to those that are so soft they have the same force as a feather landing on the ground.
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I still have the T-shirt. These include great ones like “Abuse of Power Should Come as No Surprise,” “Private Property Created Crime,” “Timidity is Laughable,” and “Technology Will Make or Break Us.”
Actually, the more I think about it, the less I want to know what he was doing with the straw.