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Public province prevents personal privacy
By Jeremy Johnson
jjohn308@mscd.edu

Due to high gasoline prices, bad weather and a broken-down car, I’ve been forced back into public transportation over the past couple of months. I appreciate public transportation for the money it saves and the time it allows me to read the newspaper and listen to my iPod.

Recently, while waiting for the 15 on Colfax and Broadway, I had a scary and aggravating encounter. I was listening to my headphones and text-messaging a friend when a man with shoddy clothing who was carrying several bags of junk – presumably a homeless man – approached me and made the universal “Can I bum a smoke?” gesture. I shook my head and went back to messaging.

This stranger then began waving his arms wildly and continuing to talk to me at a proximity that began to make me uncomfortable. I removed one headphone and asked what he wanted.

He began by spewing a litany of profanities at me, telling me that I was rude and that all he had wanted was directions. I found this curious considering his cigarette gesture and the fact that there were four other people next to me, all of whom were not listening to headphones.

Finally, I snapped. It had been a lousy day, and now a homeless man was harassing me when all I had wanted was to be left alone until my bus arrived.

First of all, if he had simply wanted directions, why would he have put two fingers to his lips in a manner known as a way to ask for a cigarette? He claimed that he had just arrived from New York City and that this was the rudest town he had ever been to. I’ve been to New York City, and I wouldn’t suggest approaching strangers with confrontation and cussing.

Besides, what has happened to our right to personal privacy while commuting to and from school, work or friends’ houses? Are we really expected to be civically on-duty 24 hours a day?

I have a great deal of sympathy for the homeless. I realize it is, for the most part, the product of mental illness or alcoholism. When I eat out I often divide my always ridiculously-sized portion of food in half, boxing up my leftovers and attempting to hand them out to the first homeless person I see on the street. I once gave a homeless man sleeping in my apartment hallway two pairs of fresh socks, a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of orange juice.

I believe that it is our civic duty to act with kindness to the people around us so that we may live in a better world.

But buses and bus stops should be a safe haven for commuters across our city. Our commutes should be a time of mutual respect and quietness. We all know the annoyances of loud cell-phone talkers or drunkards who approach you with bad breath, mumbling nonsense.

In the end it is our civic duty to create random acts of kindness by respecting one another.

And one way to do that is to respect each other’s right to personal privacy.

In other words, if you see someone wearing headphones, perhaps you should let them be.