Everyday Ethics and the Pedagogy of Kindness in Wilbert Salgado’s Fare

Introduction

Wilbert Salgado’s short story Fare is a compact but powerful exploration of dignity, kindness, and the moral tension embedded in the routines we encounter in modern life. Through a straightforward narrative of a man who unexpectedly lacks money to pay his bus fare, Salgado dramatizes the vulnerability that often accompanies working-class existence and the redemptive potential of small acts of compassion. Although minimalist in length, Fare offers fertile ground for ethical analysis, particularly when read through the lens of micro-ethics, narrative empathy, nonviolent communication, and contemporary scholarship on interpersonal moral behavior. This essay (blog post #526) argues that Salgado’s story reveals how ordinary situations create moral crossroads and how compassion can function as an ethical intervention that reshapes the self-understanding of individuals.

The Opening

The story opens with an inventory of digital financial transactions: the narrator pays his credit card, transfers his children’s allowance, covers tuition fees, and sends grocery money to his ex-partner. This catalogue of economic responsibilities situates the protagonist within the lived reality of precarity, a condition that scholars have described as a “perpetual balancing of obligations under unstable economic pressures” (Standing, 2014, p. 23). By foregrounding these responsibilities, Salgado invites readers to understand that the protagonist’s failure to have coins is not a product of carelessness but rather an outcome of a life tightly bound to financial management and emotional labor. The bus stop thus becomes the stage upon which everyday pressures materialize into a moment of public shame and vulnerability.

Embarrassment

The narrator’s embarrassment when he realizes he cannot pay the fare speaks to a common emotional experience in urban life: the fear of appearing irresponsible or dependent. Philosopher Martha Nussbaum (2001) argues that shame arises when the individual’s perceived failure threatens the integrity of the self in the eyes of others. Salgado illustrates this dynamic clearly: passengers shout impatiently, the driver expresses irritation, and the protagonist feels heat rise to his face. The bus becomes a microcosm of what Goffman (1959) calls “face-work,” the effort individuals make to preserve dignity while navigating social expectations. Salgado’s protagonist, who takes his obligations seriously, is momentarily undone by a minor but emotionally charged lapse.

Micro-Ethic Event

The turning point of the story, a woman quietly paying the fare for the narrator, functions as what ethicists refer to as a “micro-ethic event,” a moment where small gestures carry disproportionate moral weight (Fowers & Davidov, 2006). The woman’s action is portrayed without sentimentality: she merely extends her hand, deposits the coins, and returns to her spot without seeking recognition. This understated gesture reflects what Held (2006) describes as “care ethics,” in which moral value emerges not from grand ethical principles but from relational attentiveness and practical responsiveness to another’s need. Her anonymity reinforces the universality of the act; she symbolizes the possibility of goodness in what the narrator experiences as an indifferent crowd.

The Embroidered Blazon

A crucial symbolic layer emerges when the narrator notices the embroidered blazon on the woman’s shirt: the initials S.S.F., standing for Sympathy, Support, and Fairness. The story’s title, Fare, already hints at wordplay, and this symbolic motto amplifies it. “Fare” denotes the cost of transportation, yet the narrative transforms it into a meditation on “fairness.” The woman’s gesture clarifies that fairness is not merely transactional or procedural; instead, it is a form of justice rooted in human solidarity. As philosopher Michael Sandel (2009) argues, justice must account for compassion, not only rules and rights. Salgado’s story aligns with this view, illustrating how fairness can exceed institutional codes and manifest as interpersonal care. Fare in the bus become “fair” in practical terms.

Liquid Modernity

The narrative critiques the erosion of empathy in fast-paced environments. The passengers’ impatience exemplifies what Bauman (2007) describes as “liquid modernity,” a condition where speed and efficiency override interpersonal consideration. The bus driver’s frustration, shaped by schedule constraints, represents a system that privileges productivity over humanity. In contrast, the woman with the blazon reintroduces a mode of ethical presence that disrupts this impersonal rhythm. Her action becomes a form of moral resistance to the culture of haste, to the culture that is indifferent to people’s predicaments in life without knowing their backstories.

Salgado’s Dirty Realism

Salgado also employs a minimalist narrative technique to support his thematic aims. The prose is direct and unembellished, reflecting what Raymond Carver (1981) identifies as the power of “dirty realism,” where the mundane becomes meaningful through precise attention to detail. The emotional climax occurs not through reflection but through silence: “I went mute. All I could do was nod my thanks.” The narrator’s inability to speak underscores the transformative quality of the kindness he receives. As literary theorist Suzanne Keen (2007) observes, narrative empathy often arises from “moments where language reaches its limit,” allowing readers to feel an emotional shift rather than merely understand it intellectually.

An Ethical Insight

Ultimately, the story culminates in an introspective realization: the narrator notes that the blazon’s initials “didn’t feel like a school motto. It felt like a message meant for me.” This personal appropriation of institutional values illustrates how ethical insight often originates in lived experience rather than formal instruction. The woman’s act becomes an ethical pedagogy, teaching the narrator through example. As Paulo Freire (1998) emphasizes, moral education is dialogical and rooted in human encounters; individuals learn ethical frameworks not only from doctrine but from witnessing justice enacted in concrete situations.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Wilbert Salgado’s Fare is a narrative meditation on everyday morality. It dramatizes the fragility of dignity, the callousness of impatient crowds, and the restorative power of compassion. Through minimalist storytelling, symbolism, and psychological realism, Salgado offers readers a vivid ethical encounter. The story teaches that fairness, like kindness, is often enacted in humble moments, through gestures that may seem small but resonate deeply. In an increasingly impersonal world, Fare reminds us that humanity survives through micro-ethics: in the coins we choose to give, the shouts we choose not to utter, and the dignity we choose to extend toward those who falter.

San José, Costa Rica

Monday, February 9, 2026

📚 References

Bauman, Z. (2007). Liquid times: Living in an age of uncertainty. Polity Press.

Carver, R. (1981). What we talk about when we talk about love. Knopf.

Fowers, B., & Davidov, B. (2006). The virtue of multiculturalism: Personal transformation, character, and openness to the other. American Psychologist, 61(6), 581–594.

Freire, P. (1998). Pedagogy of freedom: Ethics, democracy, and civic courage. Rowman & Littlefield.

Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Doubleday.

Held, V. (2006). The ethics of care: Personal, political, and global. Oxford University Press.

Keen, S. (2007). Empathy and the novel. Oxford University Press.

Nussbaum, M. (2001). Upheavals of thought: The intelligence of emotions. Cambridge University Press.

Sandel, M. (2009). Justice: What’s the right thing to do? Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Standing, G. (2014). The precariat: The new dangerous class. Bloomsbury.

Fare, Wilbert Salgado's short story

Fare [Short Story] by Jonathan Acuña

Comparative Chart of Themes in Wilbert Salgado's Fare

Comparative Chart of Themes in Wilbert Salgado by Jonathan Acuña

Reader’s Handout for Wilbert Salgado’s “Fare”

Reader’s Handout for Wilbert Salgado’s “Fare” by Jonathan Acuña

Everyday Ethics and the Pedagogy of Kindness in Wilbert Salgado's Fare by Jonathan Acuña