hard times

i had the misfortune yesterday to overhear some of a guy's phone conversations.

he is desperate and he was crying.

his bank is doing what they do so well: apply fees to money he thought he had scraped together. four days from now his truck is being repossessed. that's how he gets to work, you know? because there's no public transportation. he rents a room in a two bedroom condo out in the country to make ends meet.

and he is crying because he cannot afford to buy christmas presents for his kids.

i have never heard that kind of crying out of a man. those gutteral sobs will haunt me for a long time.

i do not know how to help. i live pretty close to the margin myself. i don't have money to leave under his wiper blade.

i wish i had a nice way to wrap this up. i don't.