Poverty...it's not sexy

[cvoogt]

36. Seen poverty in Appalachia

Know what you mean. Last month I got pickpocketed by an 8 year old high on gasoline .. in Addis Ababa. Still shocked and affected, partly because I have a son around that same age. I got my money back, because my taxi driver caught the kid and punched him in the jaw until he told him where he'd hidden the money. I didn't even care about the money after the first punch landed, but I had nowhere to go .. was dependent on the taxi driver.

I have seen how people just ignore it ... all around the world, including NYC, Atlanta etc. Suburbanites will drive into town and instinctively roll up their windows and lock the car once they get off the highway. In Atlanta I saw a guy with a gunshot entry/exit wound in his head... buying beer to self-medicate. Nobody did a damn thing - including me, sad to say. If I saw it today, I hope I would handle it differently. Most of all I feel so powerless to change things for the better.

I find it so ironic that the right eschews Darwinism when it comes to science, but embraces when it comes to social justice and economics.