Implications of "The Incomplete Quad"

    The short story which stood out to me the most upon reading the first half Best of Me by David Sedaris was the story, “The Incomplete Quad.” When I first read this story, I was a bit taken aback to hear the story, descriptions, and word choice surrounding the character Peg, who had “a degenerative nerve disease” (Sedaris 35). At first I thought the humor used in this piece was slightly unrefined and offensive, after I reread the chapter I realized how Sedaris was using the character Peg and humor to break down the norms regarding handicapped people and society. Sedaris uses this simple and crude humor to show how wrongly Peg is treated. For example, he writes, “Outside the dorm, the only people to address us would speak as if we were deaf, kneeling beside the chair to shout, ‘FATHER TONY IS HAVING A GUITAR MASS THIS SUNDAY. WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN US?’ (Sedaris 36). And Peg replies, “I collect teeth from live kittens and use them to make necklaces for Satan” and the other continues, “WELL SURE YOU DO” (Sedaris 36). If my friend had walked up to me and said what Peg did, I would be completely taken aback and confused. In this case the woman does not listen to what Peg is really saying. People do what Sedaris is showing is the easy way out, which is to pity Peg for her situation, rather than do the hard thing which is to treat her as just another human being, as Sedaris describes her feeling “invisible” (Sedaris 36). The narrator and Peg continue on a spree where they “scam” people who offer them “kindness,” such as allowing them to blatantly steal, money, bus fare, ect. as Sedaris writes, “We found it amusing and pictured these Samaritans notifying their pastor to boast, ‘We saw this crippled girl and her husband and, well, we didn’t have much but we did what we could” (Sedaris 37). I believe this was the most important line in the story because it so common. The idea that pity with a mix of donations allows a common person to feel good about themselves, it is as though it is washing his/her hand free of any wrongs. Not only does it make one feel good, but it makes one look good to others as well. 

     I feel like this idea that Sedaris is using humor to display throughout this chapter, that we treat handicapped people as though they are invisible and less than and we shower them with pity rather than treat them with humanity is seen on a larger scale and applies to many groups, specifically through the homeless population in this country as well. You see a homeless person at a stoplight, everyone around you including yourself is normally trying not to make eye-contact with him/her standing there. You might look down at your phone or stare straight ahead, praying the light turns green. Why is that? Because you might not have money to give them, maybe because you feel awkward, but why do we feel awkward? It’s not like we all go around the grocery store avoiding eye contact with everyone. My dad always taught me to not avoid eye contact with a homeless person at a stoplight. He used to take me to the homeless shelter to volunteer with him. Every person there just wanted to feel human. They didn’t want to feel invisible and pitied like Peg. They wanted human connection more than the one dollar bills that people stick out the window, eyes still on the stoplight, afraid to touch the hand of the homeless man walking to receive it. We want to feel good about ourselves by giving money and pity, yet it is not what people who feel they are invisible want at all, they simply want to not feel invisible. I never carry cash, so every time I see a homeless person at a stoplight, to roll down my window and say, “hey sorry, I don’t have cash today or else I would give you some.” A human interaction with a human to remind them they are not invisible.

    This story also vaguely relates to my experience with tutoring this week. I was “tutoring” my student, Laila in geometry. Let’s just say it was more like her tutoring me, she seemed to know much more than I did. I told my friend once I was done, “Wow, I remember way less about geometry than I remember, the girl was so smart she really didn’t even need my help.” My friend responded, “really?” She was in a bit of disbelief. We believe that certain groups of people are incapable, society labels them that way, and normally we do not give those groups a legitimate chance to prove otherwise. We pity the disabled as if they were pets, we fear the homeless like they are going to jump in our car and rob us, and we assume those who need tutoring are not smart. Sedaris is showing in reality, we are all human full of potential and capability.