There’s a new one on the streets. He is in fairly good condition, maybe about twelve or a bit older – nice looking boy. He has the insistence and pushiness of a kid who hasn’t yet been worn down by this city, who still has some semblance of hope and a feeling that the world owes him something. This is how I know he’s new, he doesn’t know it shows, but he is just not enough tough for this town and I can see it even if the tourists can’t.
He wouldn’t listen when I told him to go to the Homestead, and he was sneaky enough to make us feel a bit nervous. Such a different to the boys I have gotten to know, who are old hands at this game – worn down, scruffy but never too on the game to charm with their beautiful smiles. These boys never bother me, never expect anything and never ask for anything except for a hug and a chat. They break my heart, but this new one makes me even sadder – annoying as he is. It just seems to unfair to me that these children are there in the first place; as adults we have failed them and turned them into the mini-tsosi’s they become. It is only when you make a connection with them and ask their names and be their friend that they are able to stop seeing you as a means to an end, and that is one of the hardest things for me to deal with when I see these kids. Despite their reassurances that they are staying at home more, I know they are trying to make me worry less… their scruffiness tells me the real story.
This song reminds me of these kids, and all the white trash and not quite right kids out there. Growing up poor and on the wrong side of the tracks, perhaps I identify a bit with this song too. Someone said something to me recently about slow burners and late bloomers, and reminded me that some of us take longer to get where we need to go. Starting off with almost nothing and always having to fight for what I wanted made me tougher. And no matter how much things sometimes get to me, one thing is for sure – I know I am enough tough for this town.
James Taylor – Never Die Young
We were ring-around-the-rosy children
They were circles around the sun
Never give up, never slow down
Never grow old, never ever die young
Synchronized with the rising moon
Even with the evening star
They were true love written in stone
They were never alone, they were never that far apart
And we who couldn’t bear to believe they might make it
We got to close our eyes
Cut up our losses into doable doses
Ration our tears and sighs
You could see them on the street on a Saturday night
Everyone used to run them down
They’re a little too sweet, they’re a little too tight
Not enough tough for this town
We couldn’t touch them with a ten-foot pole
No, it didn’t seem to rattle at all
They were glued together body and soul
That much more with their backs up against the wall
Oh, hold them up, hold them up
Never do let them fall
Prey to the dust and the rust and the ruin
That names us and claims us and shames us all
I guess it had to happen someday soon
Wasn’t nothing to hold them down
They would rise from among us like a big balloon
Take the sky, forsake the ground
Oh, yes, other hearts were broken
Yeah, other dreams ran dry
But our golden ones sail on, sail on
To another land beneath another sky
I don’t know that song, but it reads like a beautiful poem. I have all the street people I saw in Cape Town imprinted on my memory, the way they would line up in Rondebosch near Pick n Pay and walking past was like a gauntlet, I was always wondering who to give change to that day. It is a tough tough city. I wonder if I have enough tough to survive there again?
A super sussed scientist (yes, scientist!) like you? I reckon you have enough tough.
There is a small settlement near my road, they are trolly bergies, so mostly keep to themselves – except for the drunk nights every now and then when they make a noise. They are always super polite and always greet. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is to pick my battles.. I help the boys I know and one or two others who I’ve also gotten to know; and I don’t give them money, try and do the ‘right’ thing. It’s hard though – no person or child should have to lose their pride and dignity like that!