VENDOR WRITING

A Pet Peeve

BY PAUL A.

The scooters are all over the sidewalks. And I mean ALL over the sidewalks. I come down Fourth Avenue and I usually cut through the Arcade right by the hotel. But there were three scooters laying out there this morning and I had to maneuver around them — I almost tripped on one.

The scooters are not doing any justice for anybody. I mean yeah, they’re probably fun to ride, but they’re supposed to be ridden on the street, not the sidewalks. That’s why they call it a sideWALK, not a sideRIDE.

The homeless are complaining. And when the homeless are complaining about it, then there’s something wrong.

I see groups of people walking and these scooters are almost running into them, and that ain’t right. The other day, there was a bunch of people talking and there was five people on scooters and they got mad because the group of people was talking. They

started cussing them out, I heard it. So I think they’re a nuisance.

They need to figure out a way, if they’re gonna keep them in the city, to put some sort of sensor on them where they can’t get up on the sidewalk. I don’t know how that would work, but they need to do that. They need to do something, pass some kind of ordinance, to where they’re going to be able to enforce it.

I’m dealin’ with it, but I don’t wanna deal with it.

The visitors are riding them, and they’re riding them without helmets when they’re supposed to be wearing helmets. I suppose there aren’t enough officers to take care of it, but it has to be addressed. It’s at the point where my thought is if they’re riding on the sidewalk and an officer sees them, stop them and give them a $25 or $50 citation. Same for not wearing a helmet.

It’s a pet peeve. It really is a pet peeve.

Genuine Care For Others Can Overcome Barriers

BY NORMA B.

One hot sticky Saturday afternoon in July — you know the kind I mean, with the air you can wear — a very nice Hispanic lady and her young son (he looked like he was maybe 9 or 10) stopped by my corner for a visit.

I greeted them with an enthusiastic, “Hola, buenos días!” The lady then asked if I knew Spanish. I told her, “Oh no, no… poquito Español,” which means, “Very little Spanish.”

The boy corrected me saying, “It’s, 'buenos tardes' because it’s not a.m. but after 12 p.m.” You learn something new every day!

They helped me get situated and waited patiently as I climbed up in my chair.

Then he asked if they could pray for me.

I said yes, because in my opinion, you can NEVER get too many of those.

His mom took the lead once again, and she began to pray (all in Spanish) and man, could she talk fast! Quite

different from most southerners like me who tend to talk slower and drag everything out to the point that our words can have extra syllables.

I only recognized a word or two here and there, “Jesus,” and “Amen,” things like that — the obvious ones.

When she finished, she gave me a simple lunch in a brown paper bag that consisted of a toasted tuna sandwich with a Mexican flair, a bag of pretzels, an orange soda, and a water bottle (or as I call it in 90+ degree heat and humidity — liquid gold!)

The son then told me to, “Have a blessed day!” I said, “Gracias!” And I told him, I consider every day a blessed day, and that I was sure they too would receive a blessing for stopping to help me the way they did, I just wasn’t sure what form their blessing would take.

He carefully translated what I said to his mother, and that led to a heartfelt hug! That’s pretty special in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

(We were all taking precautions wearing face masks.)

What is the significance of all this? I’ve often heard how differences big or small can’t be worked out because one side can’t understand the other, when if we’re being honest, many times very little effort is being put forth on either side.

In this instance, I understood very little of what she said, but her intentions were crystal clear, and I felt equally understood thanks to her young child.

As we parted ways that day, I felt as though we each came away with something positive from the experience.

Maybe next time you’re faced with a seemingly insurmountable obstacle — whether it’s language, beliefs, or some other differences — STOP and take some time to see if you can find some common ground, a way to build one another up rather than tear each other down.