Modern Society

He watched the rain trickle into the gutter and flow gently down the drain, disappearing beneath the busy streets of Manhattan. As he inhaled, a sharp pain hit his lungs. He coughed and spluttered until he regained his usual uneven pattern of inhaling and exhaling. Sighing, he took a long drag from his cigarette and heaved himself wearily up off the dirty pavement. Brushing what wasn't even a tenth of the dirt from his ragged clothing, he set a foot forward and went about his daily business.
Three people smiled kindly but kept their hands firmly in their pockets, seven shook their heads hastily and avoided eye contact, two looked horrified and walked right past, five dug into their back pocket and handed out various coins which clanged at the bottom of the paper cup, and one dug deep into his coat pocket, took out a ten dollar note and shook his hand with a warm smile, before folding it neatly and placing it in the cup...