Short on Cash

Published in Waking Up on the Planet

Wake-Up Call: Short on Cash

By Karen M. Jones

Last week, I heard two tales about people who found themselves holding up a line.

Irving Rosenberg, age 74, possibly felt frustrated as he scrambled to pay for eight tickets at the movie theater box office. According to witnesses, he was already glancing toward nearby companions, perhaps to ask for a few extra dollars, when Yvonne Schuss, the patron behind him in line, expressed her impatience with a hostile remark about his math abilities. Mr. Rosenberg did not shrug off her verbal jab; he gave her a quick glance and told her to "shut up and mind your own business." That's when 69-year-old Seymour Schuss stepped in to "defend" his wife, and punched him in the face. Mr. Rosenberg hit the pavement, head first, slipped into a coma and died.

As I watched this testimony on Court TV, I wondered what was going through Mr. Schuss's mind, sitting there as the anguished 911 call of a bystander was played for the courtroom. Did he wonder why he and his wife hadn't left home a few minutes earlier, leaving time and patience to spare in the ticket line? Was he wishing his wife had been distracted by conversation and thus, unaware of the delay in front of her? Did he question why the words, "shut up" lit such a rage in him that he assaulted a 74-year-old man whom witnesses say was much smaller than he?

Apparently Mr. Schuss and his wife maintain that the death was "an accident," which suggests that putting his fist into Rosenberg's face was not a choice he made. I suppose he'd say he meant to hurt him, not kill him. As if spontaneous violence can somehow be calibrated.

Then there is another tale. A pharmacy customer who'd just claimed her prescription found herself short a few dollars. She tried to signal to her shopping companions, but they were not paying attention. My 79-year-old mother was behind her in line, as were several other customers. My mother, imagining herself in the same predicament, opened her wallet and offered the woman the money. The woman, taken aback by the generosity of a complete stranger, graciously declined the offer and soon waved her friends over for the loan. She thanked my mother profusely as they left, and even the pharmacist was smiling.

Imagine if Mrs. Schuss had simply asked Mr. Rosenberg, kindly, if he needed a few extra dollars for his tickets, or even offered to bring his friends over. Instead, her stinging barb started a deadly chain, escalating with Mr. Rosenberg's unthinking response, and culminating in Mr. Schuss's enraged attack. One now dead, two with ruined lives, all the result of simple rudeness.

Let's all think about that the next time we're in line, feeling impatient. I hope we'll put our money where our mouths are.

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