Please Kindly Curb Your Homeless

There are signs all over the streets of New York that say "Please curb your dog" or "Thank you for caring to curb your dog". I've heard a few variations on what it actually means, but apparently the general gist is that when you're walking your dog, you should keep the dog close to the curb so that we he relieves himself, it's not in the middle of sidewalk where every passerby could walk through it (or the remains of it).

So, this morning, I was walking to work along one of my regular routes... it was just before 8:00, so the sidewalks were bustling with activity. As I approached the corner of 57th and 9th, I was walking under some scaffolding in front of the building and I caught a whiff of something extremely foul-smelling.

A few more steps and the scaffolding cut away to my right and in the split second before I could turn away, I saw an image that nearly made me retch and will unfortunately be burned in my brain for quite some time.

A homeless man had his pants down around his ankles, was in a squatting position, and was defacating quite shamelessly in the middle of the sidewalk. Ironically, he actually had the mental wherewithal to position himself over a sheet of newspaper like a semi-housetrained puppy.

I'm sorry, but did I say I missed New York??