What Do You Do When There’s No More Fucks to Give?
Walk out into traffic, apparently
I live in a small city midway up the East Coast of Vancouver Island, Canada. I had lived here previously over 10 years ago, but recently moved back last summer. It’s still familiar enough that it feels like home, despite the inevitable changes that over a decade brings about, even here.
One of the big differences I’ve noticed between then and now is the increase in the number of unhoused people and public drug use. A situation that has become common, unfortunately, in many communities across Canada (and around the world.)
This community is one of the most expensive on Vancouver Island outside of the capital, Victoria. Industry has diminished, well-paying jobs are fewer and farther between, while rents and house prices have escalated beyond the ability of people to keep up. Same story everywhere.
So it was no surprise, on a trip to the city centre, to see a man–apparently unhoused, certainly unkempt in appearance–approach the crosswalk on the opposite side of the street from where we were waiting.
What was a surprise was that while we dutifully waited for the light to change, he kept on walking. Straight out into traffic. No pause, no checking in either direction. A man seemingly on a mission.
