This is what a woman’s feet should look like when sticking out the side of a pickup truck, just in case you were wondering. NOT like the half-naked, unconscious young woman we passed on Saturday night on an east side street, facedown in the back of a pickup, bare feet sticking into the air for any passer-by to observe. Nevermind that she was possibly a prostitute. We moved to lean over and help her when a figure emerged from the darkness, aggressively suggesting that we “keep ‘on movin.” We did so, in the interest of our own safety, but called 911 once inside the car.
The sides of the pickup in which the girl lay, unmoving, was branded with the logo of popular processed food brands. My stomach turned as I registered how very much this body, this human being, had been tossed there like so much trash. Not to equate the onslaught on our country of processed food with actual rape, but I can’t help finding parallels between them, particularly when met with such a literal and direct example. It’s the cheapening of human life, in both cases; whether devaluation of the body occurs slowly or with violent rapidity.
Law enforcement never called back with a report, understandably. We have no idea what happened to the girl, or those responsible. I do know I’ve never felt so helpless, even in NYC. God grant me…the courage to change those things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Oh, Susan, how horrible. Kudos to you for doing the right thing. That’s where the hope lies.