The Tragically Horrific and Historically Dangerous Conditions of Everyday Life in Philadelphia

Photo by Chris Henry on Unsplash

What moved me to write this, was finding an elderly and presumably homeless man laid out on the pavement unconscious and not moving, in the ninety-plus degree heat, just about an hour ago as I was coming out of the park on my daily walk.

Mind you, this was on the side of the road of what is considered one of the deadliest highways in America, Roosevelt Boulevard or Route 1.

While I can’t say he was dead being I didn’t get close enough to check a pulse, as the smell coming from the area made it nearly impossible to do so.

I did what I was capable of and I felt was the right thing to do, by calling the non-emergency number 311 to report such incidents. The wait time was a half hour, so I hung up and called the fire department close to where I found the man laid out — I got their machine and left a message, noting what the issue was and where the man could be found.

I then did something I have never done in my entire life, unless you count the time I prank called them when I was 6 and hung up to make my friends laugh — I called 911.

I dialed the number we’re all taught as children to call when there’s a life-threatening emergency, the one we depend on when someone has been shot, robbed…