I Wished I Were an Alien

It was a night of drinking in my neighborhood, and on the way home I saw a man sitting on the sidewalk at the taxi stand near the place where I had been.

He had drunk so much he could barely speak, I watched for about 5 minutes and the best he could do was nod his head up and down, on his lap, still a bit dirty… all covered in vomit. The other people there came and went. A street full of people and he was still completely ignored. Some paid attention, too much, I must say. Videos and photos, clicks to be shared on Facebook lol.

It’s sad to think that in such a wide range of feelings generated by the heart, mockery and cruelty would be the result. Laughter united them. “It’s just another night in São Paulo,” I heard. It was becoming depressing, the spectators were in a much worse state than the one being watched.

The alcohol in the blood passes, but the flawed character does not.

When I went to help him, the people with cameras got angry. “He’s like that because he wanted to be!” And they pushed me. Shortly after, the taxis arrived and they left, since the court jester had ended his show.

I leaned against a pole as I lit a cigarette and reflected on what had happened. I think kindness has become like this cigarette. As time passes, more and more it turns to ashes. Am I really from this planet?

I didn’t join the communion of disgrace and public shame. A mere ritual of humiliation of a hopeless individual. What a pity! Free public humiliation is a great way for people to come together; I should have shared the moment with complete strangers, right?

No…

These moments allow empty people to lose themselves in their shared moral depravities, their hearts already too intoxicated with cruelties, too weak to reflect on their actions.

I think it’s one of those things, very typically of human nature, you know this kind of thing… that brings people together.

Yeah, I wished I were an alien.