Stealing from the homeless
My work schedule is very irregular. When I am busy I am crazy busy. But when I am not I am a real couch potato. I am typically busy for only eight months of the year, and my income is correspondingly irregular. When I am busy I make a lot of money, but when I`m not I make nothing at all. In March and August, half of December and half of April I am just sitting around the apartment waiting for public high schools to inform me by E-mail of my schedule. Japanese teachers never cease to say things like “Oh, you’re so lucky, you have such a long vacation!” The morons!!! I always remind them - it’s no use, it`s like talking to a rock - that I am not on vacation. I have no vacation. Going a long time without work is not a good thing, it`s a very bad thing because when I am not working I am not making money. During those months of the year when I am not busy my family is reduced to absolute poverty. We live off of my wife`s small income from her work and the household budget is stretched thinner than you can imagine.
I'm so poor that I'm stealing money from the homeless.
On Saturday, March 14, 2015 I was passing through Tokyo`s Shinjuku Station on my way to a couple of short jobs in the Omotesando neighbourhood near JR Harajuku Station. Because it was mid-March I was ruing my poverty. In addition, I was bedevilled by aching joints, reducing mobility and making climbing stairs more than a little painful. In the station I was struggling up a staircase on my way towards the JR line ticket gates. My eyes were cast downward, concentrating on the steps I was struggling with. Suddenly in front of my face a hand appeared with ¥150 yen in it. I thought, “What a gift from heaven! What an angel of mercy!” So I immediately reached out and scooped up the coins. Then I looked up and saw a homeless man in front of me making eating gestures with his fingers. He was begging for food money and I had just stolen his money. I`m so poor that I`m stealing money from the homeless. I gave him back his coins. But being in a dire condition myself I regretted I could not give him anything.