Jerusalem Moments

I decided to walk from my workplace in Kiryat Moshe to the 8 stop on Keren Hayesod. On the way, I stoped at a bakery, and found myself staring eye-to-eye at a homeless woman as we both looked at the same tray of sufganiyot (if you don't know what these are, please google them, and then make sure to buy them come Hanukkah). I felt so bad - I wanted to ask her if she wanted one, but what if she came there with her hard-earned begging money (I don't mean that fecisiously - begging is hard work and is humiliating) to buy something, and then I would just make her feel bad, and she would know that she looked homeless? I realized after I should have just bought two and offered her one, leaving the possibility I am a crazy nut-job who hands out sufganiyot sometimes, without harming her dignity. I realized after I left the store, having lost my appetite, and wanted to cry, and to hug someone, and wished I knew what kind of career or degree would help me fight poverty. How does one fight it? How? It is this socially endemic problem, and I just don't know - I mean, I know the micro-efforts - volunteering at soup kitchens, donating things, etc., are important, but how does one fix society to fix it on a macro scale?

At the grocery store, I got into a conversation about chocolate with these Puerto Rican tourists. Then, while in line to pay, I told the American woman whose phone convo I overheard that the Supersol on Keren Hayesod was one of the slowest and most overpriced Supersols, and wound up getting into a discussion with the guy in front of me about tent protests and Israeli banks. I love these types of casual interactions, and especially love having platonic, friendly conversations with guys - it kind of helps restore my faith in mankind (I mean man as in the gender, not "man" as in "human". How did "man" come to mean "human" again? Hello patriarchy!)

The guy in question had a cartillage earring, which made me respect him - I tend to respect people who have peircings in places that I don't. What does this say about my values? Speaking of which: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-moral/#AimMetMor

Also, I have been reading a lot of poetry online recently at www.poets.org