Scenes in San Francisco


Are things Hopeless and Futile?

We saw a Jumper on our way to dinner on wednesday. No, not a sweater, for those of you who are english, a man who was about to Jump from the third story building around the corner from the restaurant that Jenny and I were going to for our date on Wednesday. It's in the Tenderloin, the worst downtown district of San Francisco, something that only adds to the charm of the place. Massage parlors, corner liquor stores and other charming establishments dot the landscape of the steep hills. The tenderloin is a crisscross maze of one way streets and hills.

One of those one way streets is Jones, which was blocked off because of the Jumper. There was a cop on the corner, talking to two women and looking vaguely at a building face down the street. So I asked what was up.

"A Jumper."

That's all the cop said. He didn't sound surprised, or anything. And I guess I wasn't either. So we went to dinner.

He was still on the ledge when we came back. There was a loudspeaker then. Nobody knew who was talking into it, or what they were saying. It only added to an odd situation. There were about 50 people on the corner now. The same cop, talking to different women now. And the Jumper down the street on the ledge of a 3rd story window. He was facing the window, which I noticed because in the movies they don't face the window.

We didn't even really pause, we just saw him again, and continued walking to our car.

I was surprised because I didn't feel anything for this man who was clearly hurting.

A homeless friend of Darren's says about people who got beat up, or killed on the street, "It didn't end so well for him". He says it kind of whimsically, and said it more because I thought it was such a contrast to the level of the pain he was describing with those words.

And I guess I kind of felt the same way for the Jumper.

On my way to this cafe this morning I noticed something else that was really interesting.

An old old man with melanoma scabs on his nose, maybe latino, in funny pants, with a cane. He was shuffling down the sidewalk. He was swinging his cane knocking a cup into the gutter. The cup had a lid with a straw in it. The lid and straw were tipped back on the sidewalk, and the old man was having trouble even getting the cup to the gutter. The thing was that there were, in that one little area he was walking in about, seriously 30 pieces of trash. I almost started laughing at the scene because it was so futile. He could barely get the cup to the gutter, wait till he tried for the pop-tart cellophane!

The scenes reminded me of each other. In the city people become part of the scenery. So with the Jumper, I wondered if the Police didn't have one of those trampoline thingy's because they get Jumper calls 4 nights a week. It's futile. If he doesn't jump today, there's next week when he's released from jail.

I think I liked the old man's faith.

He couldn't fix the litter problem in San Francisco, I don't think he worried to much about it. He was just obsessed by the cup, and getting it to the gutter for street cleaning. He didn't indicate any trouble with the rest of the garbage, and when I go down the street after leaving here, I'm sure I'll see most of the garbage where it was. The thing is that I'll see a cup, and it's lid, in the gutter. It seems like faith to me.

Posted: Fri - February 6, 2004 at 07:29 AM        

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