That's a different question, and one that has puzzled better heads than mine. The only answer I can think of right here right now does not propose a solution either (for an attempt at that see the link I posted yesterday about the minimum wage initiative here, not sure whatr I think of that). However the following story may provide some insight: At one point when we were in San Antonio we lived on the "wrong" side of town, turns out to be the east side, who knew. Anyway, my son used to play with a kid named Isaac. He was Hispanic, not that this matters especially in this story. He used to come over to our house and read books. Several times I tried to give him one, but he said his mother would throw it away, and did I mind if he came over to read it? I asked his mother, a decent woman with nine kids, about this. By the way, they were American, not Mexican. She told me that the social worker said that if there was clutter on the floor the next time she came over, she was taking the kids. So I told Isaac he could come over and read books. I tried to take him to the library, but after the first time his mother said it caused too many problems with the younger kids wanting to go. I was not willing to take all of them, in fact could not legally do so even if willing, because of car seats. The nearest library was not walking distance - a car was required. I tried to go to bat for Isaac, I really did. I called the library to ask about bookmobiles, and found out that there was no bookmobile stop within miles because "those people don't read," but that one might be considered if the apartment complex requested one. The apartment manager told me I was the only tenant he had ever seen with a book and he was too busy with the anti-drug campaign to do the paperwork. I talked to the anti-drug people and they said their campaign was geared to adults but that they did have books that they could give him if he was interested. No, he could not come to the community center and read them, not without his mother. The mother worked fifty hours a week as a carhop at the local Sonic, because they would not give her her food stamps unless she had a job. The overtime was so she would have money after she paid for daycare. Once she came home she tended to drink beer with a variety of men, quite likely trying to shop for a new daddy, though she never explicitly told me this. The father of all these children was in jail for beating her up once too often.
Meanwhile... my son asked me if I could get some boric acid for Isaac, because one of the reasons he did not like to spend time at home was the cockroaches that came out of the wall. I bought it and told him to tell Isaac that he had taken it out of our kitchen, because I did not want the mother to feel I was criticizing her. I asked him about housekeeping, and he said the apartment was very clean, as were all of the parts I had ever seen. I think the reason for the cockroaches was that the apartment below theirs was abandoned and boarded up. They could not move because her rent was subsidized and because of all the agencies that would have to be notified. We were there only a very short time, really only long enough to say eep I guess this was a mistake. But we went back a couple of times, and one time we took Isaac out to our new place out in the country. I was sure he would love it. A creek, a rope swing, armadillos, scorpions, what else could a boy want? Sidewalks and sirens, apparently... James came in and told me he was scared and crying so we took him home a day early. The last time I was back there I heard that Isaac was in juvenile detention for stealing a bicycle. His mother was defensive when I asked about him, and told me she had eight other kids. That kid really haunts me. Dana On 9/23/05, Gruss Gott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Dana wrote: > > or go to school. It does not work out that well for everyone. The fact > that > > you and I are some of the lucky does not make us smarter, or better > prepared > > necessarily. It could well be that some of us are merely lucky and smug > ;P > > Dana > > > > I'm trying to get my foot out of my mouth to speak ... there. Ok, I > agree that people can be busting tail and need help. I have no > problem with that; as you pointed out I would have. I agree that we > are lucky, no problem there either. > > BUT - Are you denying that some people are poor because it's their > chosen way of life? They *could* go to school or move up somehow, but > they don't *want* too. > > What is the percentage of those affected that fall into that category? > I dunno. What would you say it is? > > My question is if we all have the choice to move up, why are there > poor people? Why are there Mexicans flooding across the border mowing > lawns, cleaning hotels, etc? > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Get Instant Hacker Protection, Virus Detection, Antispam & Personal Firewall. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=62 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:174861 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
