Search our Archives!  Religious and Reform  August 7, 2013 |
1:00 am  Why bus stops smell like urine  Posted by Susan Esther
Barnes   Photo from Wikimedia/Downtowngal  A friend queried on
Facebook, “Why oh why can't BART be clean??? The Embarcadero
station smells like a latrine!” It didn’t take long for someone
to respond, “Because people are disgusting and have peed all
over the stairs.”  It’s so sad the first thing that springs to
people’s mind is that subway stations, bus stops, and other
public places smell like urine because people are disgusting.
Not only does it insult perfect strangers, it completely ignores
the root problem.  When tackling this question, I start with the
idea that all people were created b’tzelem elohim, in the image
of God. God is not disgusting. People are not disgusting. Face
it, no sane person wakes up in the morning and thinks, “What
disgusting thing can I do today?”  “But,” you may argue, “It is
disgusting to urinate in a public place like that. Why don’t
they use a toilet like