Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover

Today on the train...again not much happened so I'm pulling from things that happened before I started blogging. This one is classic.


I got on the train on my way home from work in a seat next to the window which is always an adventure. You never know who is going to sit next to you. I get out my book and out of the corner of my eye I see a tall man in a heavy trench coat sit down next to me. Mind you it's a warm summer day.

(I prefer seats like this)

Before I go any farther, there is something that you should know about me. I'm afraid of homeless people. Logically, I know sometimes people fall on hard times or are overtaken by addiction and that at the core they are good people. But then I also know that 1/3 of the homeless population are mentally ill. So I guess I'm more scared of the mentally ill people. You just don't know what they'll do. 


I'm a little worried that the man sitting next to me is homeless. I try to look at his fingernails to see if they're dirty, which to me could be a sign of homelessness. Then I see him going through a plastic bag. He gets a phone out. Ok, he can't be homeless right? 


He proceeds to get on the phone and tells the person on the other line, "Hey, I'm coming to Long Beach. I just got out of County." Yup! County JAIL. 


I had to think about that for a second. Would I have preferred the man to be homeless or a recent inmate? Tough question.