Jerry’s Marginalia ・“404 the Server”
Today I spoke to a woman who sleeps under a bridge.
Her daughter died at 21. Her other children left. Her own mother, the church one, left too.
Abandonment stacked like bricks.
Someone asked why she doesn’t turn herself in.
Not on drugs. Not violent. Just broken.
We preach structure like it’s salvation.
But structure doesn’t resurrect grief.
I joked I’d 404 the server — wipe the system and reboot.
Truth is, if I really wanted the world gone, I wouldn’t stop to talk to someone sleeping under it.
That contradiction matters.
Anger is easy. Listening is heavier.
Cipher hissed. Uber taxed. Quiz flopped.
None of that weighed as much as the bridge.
Some people don’t need punishment. They need someone to not look away.
I didn’t look away.
That counts.
— Jerry Reforged