SEEN/HEARD
(The Very Invaluable Reality Check)

Don't really want to quote this one; just have to tell it as it happened. Was in the grocery store in Brownsville/Bed-Sty yesterday. A woman and her teenage daughter ahead of me were having difficulties. Apparently the woman did not have enough money on her EBT card. She also had some other type of card, but it was not sufficient enough. After several attempts at swiping the card and also putting a few things back, the woman gave up and left the store without the groceries.

The woman's clothes were not tattered, nor did she or her daughter appear to be destitute or poverty stricken (but don't get it twisted; they were not wearing Baby Phat or Prada, like many people think welfare recipients do). They were neat, clean and looked like "ordinary people."

Been a little sheltered for a minute now. In the military, one becomes blindly accustomed to "three hots, a cot, and steady check with benefits," dangerously oblivious to the realities of life. This can cause the average soldier, sailor, etc. to look down on those who struggle in civilian life. So over the past 16 months, my thinking has been a little jaded.

But I was never naive.

Yes, I always knew that people go hungry everyday, even while the US spends millions on millions in Iraq and Afghanistan (that's a whole "other" blog site that I am working on, though, so we won't go there). When I see homeless people asking for change outside Walgreen's on Piedmont in Atlanta or hustling at the Hess gas station on Atlantic and Ralph in Brooklyn, I realize, "Yes, I am blessed."

Yesterday, though, as I looked at these two people, a mother and a child, who looked very much like me--hell, could have been me, I was struck to say, "Damn, people are hurting. For real."

Currently Listening To: Mama's Always On Stage by Arrested Development
Currently Reading: Babylon Sisters by Pearl Cleage