Walk to Work

I was struck this morning by the number of people the city of Metropolis employs to sweep the streets and keep the city clean as I walked to my office. At one point, I was waiting for the light to change to cross on to the other side, and I took a few moments to watch an aforementioned employee go about his trade.

He was equipped with a broom and a dust pan, and I came upon him as he swept up the brick-lined gutter filled with cigarette butts, candy wrappers and dirt. I watched as he worked the broom with skill honed from years of toiling, expertly extricating even the most stubborn of cigarette butts from the cracks. He failed to recognize me, but I couldn't look away.

I wanted to thank him, to reach out and shake his hand, but I restrained, for I feared making mention of his job and thanking him for it would be taken as degrading and insulting coming from a well-dressed college-aged student on his way to the office. But the encounter touched me, left me thinking of the complex cause and effect nature of our world, and how little we understand it.

This man has probably spent the better part of his adult life with a broom in his hand, cleaning up after people who were unwilling to hold on to trash to place it in a receptacle, or after a receptacle overloaded by refuse, or by smokers who finished their vice before reaching an ashtray. I wondered how he would have spent his life if his profession was unnecessary, if individuals took it upon themselves to ensure the cleanliness we take for granted. I thought about all the times I littered, of how someone was forced to come behind me and pick up my trash. And then I began to think more, about what other common actions of mine force someone to complete a remedial task for their wealth.

That long ago physics lesson seemed so clear to me, the one that taught me that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Everything I choose to do, everything I choose to say, bears consequences for someone else, and often, someone I have never met. It gave me an awesome feeling of power and importance, but also a pang of guilt that my selfishness caused someone else hardship. Yes, I can make an impact with relative ease, but how often is it a negative one?

The world is full of men like the one I witnessed today, some who are probably grateful and happy for the world's hubris, because it pays their bills. But, it is a sad reality that his resources are used for something so trivial, necessitated by momentary but recurring laziness. I wondered about his story as the light turned green and I passed by. I wondered how he had gotten the job, how he feels when people simply pass him by, how he feels when the shift is over and he heads home. Mostly, I wondered why I was scared to reach out and thank him, and why I failed to overcome that fear.