The Man Wearing Paisley and Denim

Posted on June 13, 2011 in Civic Responsibility Class Eating Insurance Psychosis

He came in wrapped in blue and yellow cotton paisley cloth around his chest and over his head, faded denims around his legs. He carried a pink paisley bag. Sat down near us. When Lynn said something to me, he said “You can stop talking now.” He got up and moved to the table behind us.

“Are you all right?” I asked him.

“I’m fine,” he said. The waitress took his order from the senior menu. Lynn started telling me about an article she had read about Weinergate.

“You can stop talking now!” he said as Lynn continued her story.

Our food arrived. I heard him drop a salt shaker on the table. “You can stop talking now.”

“Can we move?” I asked the waitress. She showed us to a table on the opposite side of the restaurant.

The man stood up after she went into the kitchen, grabbed his bag, and rushed from the cafe.

I could not but think that if the Republicans get their way, there will be more like him. He might be unwilling to take his meds. But what about those who do take their meds and won’t be able to afford them when Medicaid is wrecked? What will they say when the streets are filled with such people?

What have they said in all the years since they first closed down the asylums? What have they done to create the infrastructure to support these people?

It saves a few hundred dollars to not give people like the man in paisley the medications they need. It wrecks thousands of lives to save those dollars.