Today, I had a special experience I will always remember.

[handmade34]

11. my work

for the past 12 years put me right into all kinds of communities throughout the U.S... I have been to and seen more than most- from the richest communities in LA, Miami, New York, and many wealthy estates throughout rural U.S., etc. to the poorest from the projects in New York and Chicago, East St Louis, Baltimore and throughout rural U.S... Zapata, South West Virginia, rural Alabama, etc...

I have seen way too many grossly expensive and expansive homes (estates) and I have witnessed people living in long abandoned buildings, sleeping in doorways and under overpasses, families living in shacks most wouldn't consider suitable for their pets...

I want people to have to live in other's shoes long enough to have empathy... something sorely lacking here in the U.S.

I live in an extremely modest house in rural Vermont and am very happy with it... I do have running water (although it did freeze a couple of days ago) electricity and a very noisy propane furnace... in years past I spent periods of time without any of those things, sometimes voluntarily and sometimes not

most of us just do not understand how our fellow citizens live... that is unfortunate