Albany, NY -- Alison's Away Message #1
My friend Alison has had some pretty memorable away messages, and I thought I'd begin an ongoing series of 'em on my blog, as they're often worth sharing. Today's:
An actual phone conversation with my Larynx:
Hey man, it's Alison... Yeah, I need you to come into work tomorrow... Yup, you have to sing the whole day... What? You can't make it, again?! Well, bud, here's your ultimatum. Either you come in tomorrow, or I'm going to gargle with semen... No, not HeMan.... SEMEN. You don't like that? Hmm. Should've thought of that before you decided to take the train to umemployment. Oh, what's that? You'll be in tomorrow? Good. That's what I thought. B'bye now!
Albany, NY -- Blackout Lifted
Happy New Year, all!
I'm back from my political blackout, and already have gotten myself involved in a political discussion on
Silicon Investor. Here's a
great post from Ted relating to poverty:
Do you know any poor people? I suspect not.
Let me tell you about one I met tonite. I was gambling at a local casino. Early in the evening, this guy sat down next to me at a blackjack table. He was with a friend.....and he smelled badly. That was pretty surprising.....rarely do you meet an American who does not shower regularly. As we played the game, we started to talk. It turns out that in late November he was laid off from his job. Since he lives paycheck to paycheck, he couldn't pay his December rent. So he moved into his car. He finally landed a somewhat permanent temp job in a warehouse about two weeks ago. However, at the rate he is paid, he figures it will take two months to get up the security deposit and first month's rent. He doesn't want to have to live in his car that long. Meanwhile one of his friends bought him a lottery ticket for XMAS. As luck would have it, he won $500 with that ticket. He decided to take $30 from it and try his luck at blackjack. He knew it was crazy but he's feeling a bit desperate. Fortunately, his friend and I helped him with his game, and when he had a nice pile of chips, his friend and I encouraged him to leave. He won $350. That coupled with the $500 he won from the lottery plus some of his old security deposit that he saved, will give him enough money to put a deposit on a studio apt.
The guy was really thin but did not look awfully unhealthy. I don't think he has an alcohol or drug problem. I do think he's probably of average intelligence....slow to learn. He may well have learning disabilities. He has no family. His story is not unusual. Many of the poor are like him......one mistake.....one slip up.....one bad break and they are on the street. Some are drug and/or alcohol dependent but not nearly as many as many middle class Americans would like to believe. Some of them have learning disabilities because their mothers drank and/or did drugs while they were pregnant. Others are unstable because they grew up in less than stable home environments. Still others have no families to support them at all. Very few were born screwups.
And yet we don't care and we make up stories like the one you created which is that their lot in life is improving and that's more than good enough, ignoring the fact that the rich who already have very satisfying lives are moving up much faster. Frankly, from experience, I know its not good enough. There are 37 million Americans whose lives are marginalized because people like you feel its abhorrent to create a safety net for them but its more than okay to blow a trillion dollars on an Iraq.
I have very little patience left for people who care so little about their fellow man, Tim. I don't understand why people have to be living the way they are living in one of the richest nations on the earth. How this guy was able to keep up his positive outlook was beyond me. However, I do know that every time he lands on the street the more damage he does to his body and his well being. Dental apptments become non existent. Illnesses are ignored.....until one day he can no longer keep up. Eventually, he will become one of the permanently homeless. I have seen too many scenarios like this one in the land of the home and the brave, and its not good.Ted didn't get his education on the subject from Ayn Rand...
