As I made my way up Seventh Avenue this morning heading toward my office, in the distance I could hear a faint hum which I have come to know means there is some kind of activity in Times Square.
People gathering in groups for protests, concerts or advertising events, is a not an unusual occurrence in Time Square. Even knowing this, there is something so eerie about hearing this faint noise when you are not even entirely sure if it is real, because what is very real and very LOUD, is the morning traffic whizzing by you, horns blasting and brakes on buses squeaking.
Anyway, as I made my way closer to Times Square, I could start to make out what the noise actually was. It was indeed a group of people protesting about something. For the first time ever, because I usually keep my head down and avoid eye contact, I thought that I should look at these people and read their signs.
That's what they are there for after all, so they can spread their message.
This group called themselves The Mighty Mighty Workers and each protester wore a big hand-made oak tag sign around their necks that read something about their employer not paying for health insurance for them and their families.
There were men and women walking in this circle, going around and around, with a man leading the group. Each person looked so defeated. And whether it be the man standing on the corner of Fifth Avenue handing out flyers for a shoe shine shop, or the other guy that stands on the corner in the dead of winter with a big heavy sign on his front and back advertising two men's suits for two hundred dollars, my heart just breaks.
So this what it has come too for this particular group. To have a chance at the basic right of health insurance for their family, they have to parade around in freezing cold weather at 6:30am in the morning like a herd of cows wearing signs around their necks. And they probably won't even get it.
It is devastating how employers exploit their workers and just use them up, but deny them the basic means to take care of their families because of a bottom line.
For some reason this scene struck me in such a way that I just started crying, right there walking up Seventh Avenue.
Tears continuously streaming down my face and I just couldn't stop.
As I got within a few feet of my building I was thinking, seriously Sadie, get it together. But I just couldn't. I had to wait and go inside a bank for a few minutes to gain some composure.
After a few minutes I headed up to my office and thanked god for how lucky I am that I am not down there on that street fighting for health insurance for my family, but my heart ached for the people that were.