(click to enlarge & read)Last year, I was walking down the boys hall in Mendenhall (the dorm that connected to mine) and this was posted on someone's door. I later looked it up, because it struck me so hard. I also researched it, and it's all accurate. Kevin Carter was the photographer, and he really did kill himself a few months after he spent time in Africa, photo-documenting the famine and poor living conditions.
Em was telling me about a book called
Nickeled and Dimed. In it, a woman who is well educated decides to see what it's like to live on minimum wage at three different jobs. She lets herself start out with only $100. And she finds that life is a lot harder when you're stuck in a lower class position. That's the thing...you really are "stuck". Lets say.. you are 24 years old. You have two children, and a boyfriend who is not the father of either of your children. The children's father sends you some cash when he can, but he also doesn't have very much. You have a job at McDonalds making minimum wage because you couldn't afford to go to college. Then you find out your pregnant again - because you can't afford birth control. (I mean, feed your kids dinner every night or prevent more kids, which is more important??) Some would argue the BC, but when you come home at night and your children are looking at you with hungry faces, how can you make that decision? It's like an endless cycle...how do you get out of it? Maybe once you have the third child, your boyfriend leaves you. Then, you have three kids, you have to pay for them to go to daycare during the day, and McDonalds is just not paying you enough. So what do you turn to? What makes a ton of money REAL quick? Two things - prostitution and drugs. Not to say that all prostitutes are lower class, but it's a common occurence - and it's no secret that being a prostitute will make you a lot of money, and we all know what the drug world is like. I wish that the people in this world who aren't as privledged (sp?) had a way to climb out of that hole - instead we make it harder for them. And as we all know,
the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. On a lighter note - the holidays are here, and everyone seems to be getting into a Christmasy/Hannukahy (haha?) sort of spirit. Kim has every pre-set radio channel set to the Christmas music station, and all 6 CDs in her CD Drive are Christmas CDs! I was driving down Walker Ave today and saw atleast four different people waiting for buses. I had such an urge each time to offer them a ride - they looked harmless. However, I'm not naive enough to forget that you can't judge people by their looks. A man in a business suit may be the serial killer while the schizophrenic woman in the purple dress and pigtails is probably the nicest person in Greensboro.
Which makes it hard for me to do nice things, you never know how people will react. I had three leftover brownies after my ASL class today, but did I offer any of them to the people I passed on the street on the way back to the car? No... On that same note - today Kyla and I were sitting inside and a man on a bike stopped in front of our house. He looked pretty raggedy/unshaven. And he came up to the door and Kyla said, "Should I answer it?" and I said, "yeah" and she said, "He probably wants money" and opened the door, and he said, "Excuse me, I found these keys on the sidewalk outside of your house, do they belong to anyone who lives here?" And they were Liz's keys, she must have dropped them last night ... We thanked him (I should have offered him a brownie haha), and he went on his way. So...thank you random unshaven man who Kyla and I misjudged!
One more thank you before I sign off --
I was riding down West Market today, on my way to Ems apartment. And there was a pretty bad accident in front of the Harris Teeter (grocery store) ... two cars totaled, another smashed up. And they were putting the people on stretchers when I rode by. Well, that reminded me... when Laura and I were in an accident a few years ago, and I broke my nose and Laura burned her arms - I was laying on the side of 141 and this lady who was behind us driving had pulled over, she got out of the car and talked to me until the ambulance came. She held my hand the WHOLE time, even while they were putting me on the stretcher and into C Spine, and right until they closed the ambulance doors. She was so nice and thoughtful, and said just the right things so that I would stop crying. I'm very very sad that I never asked for her name. I would love to send her a holiday card...
That's enough. Sending love.
Kristen.
Liam a week after relapse. This picture was taken on my 18th birthday-- 4/17/05
