The perplexity of cellphones

In late December a drunk, homeless man ended up at our center after we had closed and refused to leave for over an hour. He called me a racist for helping a Hispanic lady but not him, a black man, and pulled out his cell phone, more complex than my own, to look up "KKK" on google news. Yes, sir, I agree with you that racism is still alive and kicking. If I could talk over your angry blustering pronouncements, I would tell you that I am less than five hours from a two-week vacation and catering to your needs while you yell at me is the last thing I want to be doing.

I was walking down the street in February when a man sitting on the sidewalk, "please give" sign and all, pulls out a cell phone and tells his friend that yeah, he'll jump on the MAX and meet him in no time.

Most of our clients, in fact, have cell phones. Some very plain, some pretty damn fancy. They pull them out while searching for free clothes in our Clothes Closet, or dawdle in the (emergency) food pantry to ask about canned carrots. One of our admin assistants, one of those friendly-but-never-ever-ever-cross-her types, also gets a food box - and recently purchased a new iPhone.

Is this a sign of the troubled, upside-down world we live in, where people don't have enough money to buy food but direct poverty-level incomes to paying their cell phone bill? Sometimes I would believe that.

Of course, there is always the debate about poverty in developed nations vs developing countries. Those living in poverty having benefits to fall back on. There are programs to give kids backpacks full of school supplies for school, not to raise funds to build a school. And perhaps cell phones, like cars, are becoming more and more of a necessity these days. Not like food or shelter, sure, but if you want to function and get a job than you'd better have a quick way to reach you.

The company Cricket offers pay-as-you-use cell phones, which makes even more sense.

Still, I keep coming back to these two homeless guys, and to our many clients - in tough economic times, at least you can still gossip on the phone at any point. Or even better, play a game on your phone.

I don't actually have much contact with clients, and I probably wouldn't ask them about this. So maybe there are better reasons out there. It is completely and likely possible that I have not thought this through. If so, leave a comment my dear friend.