Commuting - Weird commuting experience (I probably sound SO elitist...)

Friday after work I was riding home and I passed this guy who was walking his bicycle and he hollered out and asked if I had 50 cents he could use. I don't give money out to people generally but I stopped to hear his plight. He had a flat tire, had put "fix a flat" in the tube, and needed 50 cents for a gas station pump. I told him that I carry a patch kit and would be happy to patch him up and what not.

Things were pretty normal until I took a closer look at his bike. It was a repainted wal-mart full suspension bike with no shifters, and no brakes! He'd been running it as a single speed, brakeless! And the sad part was that he paid $15 for this bike! I felt really bad for the guy, he was obviously pretty poor.

I just can't imagine riding freewheel with no brakes. Heck, I ride fixed gear and keep a brake on for emergencies!

When I told my wife all about this and expressed my shock, she he was probably really really poor and I was being an elitist. Am I?

Anyway, that was the most colorful event I've had commuting lately, I just had to share.

You stop, help her fix her bike (your time is worth more then the 50 cents she asked for), and your wife thinks you are being an elitist! I don't get it.
An elitist would have just tossed her the 50 cents, turned their nose up and ride off.

You stop, help her fix her bike (your time is worth more then the 50 cents she asked for), and your wife thinks you are being an elitist! I don't get it.
An elitist would have just tossed her the 50 cents, turned their nose up and ride off.

I don't get it either. I also don't get where you turned the guy into a girl. He says it was a male. Either way, I don't have a clue what you are talking about. At least you stopped to help. I probably would have just upshifted and cranked a little harder.

He probably was very poor. It's good that you helped him.

elitist:

One who despises people or things regarded as inferior, especially because of social or intellectual pretension: snob. Informal snoot. See attitude/good attitude/bad attitude/neutral attitude, self-love/modesty

him/her bike and equipment may have been inferior, but it doesn't sound like you despised anyone, in fact just the opposite. so no, you are not an elitist. pointing out how poor someone is doesn't make someone snobby, it's just an observation, and you stopped to help, even better

When I told my wife all about this and expressed my shock, she he was probably really really poor and I was being an elitist. Am I?

i dunno. if your shock was snotty, then maybe. as in 'i don't know what he's thinking of doing such a stupid thing; why, iiiiiiiii always . . . ' elitist because it implies judgement of a choice that isn't really a choice at all.

if your shock was just shock about the realities of some people's very genuine lives and how it does affect the choices they have, then i'd more just say sheltered. which is sort of passive-elitist really, since really poor people don't have the option of not knowing what it's like to be really poor. but it's not really pernicious.

i say props to both of you anyway.

That wasn't elitist at all.

Elitist would have been talking crap to him about his brakelessness without offering any solution.

On the other hand, if he was rocking some brand new air jordans and riding brakeless, talking a little crap then would probably be justified, since if you can afford air jordans, you can afford the $50 it would cost at a bike shop to get a front brake caliper/lever/cables installed.