Reply #27: If one has means it's pretty easy to avoid the kinds of places where the down-and-out

[bertman]

live or hang out. The better malls, upscale restaurants, nice neighborhoods are like deflector shields for the reality of what's happening in our country--and probably the whole world.

Being 'solid' middle class and having friends who are professionals and some who are wealthy, it has been revealing to hear the surprise they register when I tell them about the people I know who have no job, who are good hard-working, dependable, honest folks who are living on an unemployment check and have barely enough money to pay for food, gas, and a mortgage/rent payment. Those of us who are fully employed and absorbed in our everyday lives need to have some face-to-face exposure to the plight of those less fortunate than we are. Unless the 'well-off' voluntarily spend time helping the less fortunate, they only have their own comfortable world to relate to.

The failure or refusal to SEE the desperation around us is one of our nation's biggest problems.

Thank you for telling us that story.

REC.