I wonder who left a huge pile of partially formed excrement on Main Street Friday evening. I think it was near Fireworks. More importantly, though, it was in the middle of the sidewalk. It was presented to the town, I would guess, by either a big dog or a sick or inebriated human. Or by an individual with serious boundary issues.
I know about it because I stepped in it!
It fouled my almost brand new pair of shoes, which don’t feel new anymore. It caused a disgusting end to a pleasant evening out. And then, at home, I had to spend time and energy scrubbing the sole of the soiled shoe with a grout brush.
As I scrubbed, some particles of stuff flew onto my arm.
I took a shower.
If the person who left this was sick, I don’t mean to cause embarrassment. If the person was drunk…well, I can offer compassion, but it is tempered. But if someone let his or her dog – or pet elephant or whatever – deposit this mountain of poo with no effort to clean it or at least move it to where it wouldn’t be stepped in, or if someone just had to go and took a dump on the sidewalk, then that person’s callous inconsideration needs to be addressed.
If my shoes were ruined – I don’t know yet if they were – is that person willing to reimburse me the approximately $70 I paid for them?
How about the time I spent cleaning the shoes, and then myself? How about the water I had to use? How about the fossil fuel that was used to heat my shower? It’s not cheap. And it’s not renewable. How about the soap I used in the shower? What about the alcohol and disinfectant cleaner I had to use on the shoe and then on the sink?
And what about the subjective, non-quantifiable effects? The disgust. The feelings of being fouled and violated. The spoiling of my pleasure in my new shoes. The need to attend to the mess when I got home, rather than spend that limited amount of time relaxing and preparing for bed.
And then there are the what-ifs. No, they didn’t happen, but they are still worth thinking about. What if someone had slipped on the excrement, which was soft, mushy and slippery, and had fallen? What if, because of that fall, the person suffered a life-changing injury? What if that injury resulted in chronic pain, disability, disfigurement and/or financial destitution? What if someone had slipped on the poo, fallen off the curb and gotten hit by a moving vehicle?
If the dumper was a homeless person who needed a toilet, what about potential consequences to other homeless people, who might now be further marginalized?
Any act is like a pebble thrown into still water. There are ripples. There are effects and then effects of effects.
These ripples and effects are not mere abstractions. In Restorative Justice work, they are explicitly explored. This is an integral part of the reparative work.
Leaving a pile of excrement in the middle of the sidewalk is not trivial and not without real and potential consequences to others.
And to the community.
– Robbie
