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I looked up from my reading to do a little people watching. I noticed that darkness had set in, and the pedestrian and vehicular traffic had increased at this popular street corner.
I was sitting at the Starbucks located in the renovated building at Washington and Magazine. The original windows and doors have been only slightly modified, along with the 12 foot ceiling, so this space retains the airy, lofty feeling typical of New Orleans houses. In addition, this Starbucks has the best view for people watching: a great expanse of windows lines one wall along the narrow store, allowing those seated in the armchairs an unobstructed view of the flurry of activity outside.
While scanning the motley conglomerate of people passing by the window, I saw a quick flash of white out of the corner of my eye. Squinting my eyes, I could make out the white cane of a blind pedestrian, getting ready to cross the street. I watched in amazement as he successfully crossed the intersection, dodging other pedestrians, a wayward dog, and several cars that definitely paid no attention to him.
New Orleans is infamous for drivers that routinely run red lights, fail to follow the basic rules of the road, and for overall rudeness and carelessness. In addition, the street lights in this city have no indicators that alert blind people that the light is green and that it's safe to cross. (Presumably because it's never safe?) Not to mention the number of potholes and undulations in the road as a result of building a city on swampland that is now an average of 2 ft under sea level.
Anyway, watching this blind man negotiate and overcome these obstacles made me pause and consider my life and what I take for granted... and overall, the small, irrelevant things I bitch about.
I was sitting at the Starbucks located in the renovated building at Washington and Magazine. The original windows and doors have been only slightly modified, along with the 12 foot ceiling, so this space retains the airy, lofty feeling typical of New Orleans houses. In addition, this Starbucks has the best view for people watching: a great expanse of windows lines one wall along the narrow store, allowing those seated in the armchairs an unobstructed view of the flurry of activity outside.
While scanning the motley conglomerate of people passing by the window, I saw a quick flash of white out of the corner of my eye. Squinting my eyes, I could make out the white cane of a blind pedestrian, getting ready to cross the street. I watched in amazement as he successfully crossed the intersection, dodging other pedestrians, a wayward dog, and several cars that definitely paid no attention to him.
New Orleans is infamous for drivers that routinely run red lights, fail to follow the basic rules of the road, and for overall rudeness and carelessness. In addition, the street lights in this city have no indicators that alert blind people that the light is green and that it's safe to cross. (Presumably because it's never safe?) Not to mention the number of potholes and undulations in the road as a result of building a city on swampland that is now an average of 2 ft under sea level.
Anyway, watching this blind man negotiate and overcome these obstacles made me pause and consider my life and what I take for granted... and overall, the small, irrelevant things I bitch about.
posted by THW at 6:48 PM
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