Is it possible to be marooned in your own community? One of the many eye-opening experiences I went through was working at a pizza place. Fast food is by no means a six figure salary. Many of the people who I worked with (new hires daily-weekly) were drug dealers, ex-convicts, and most of all, in poverty. When is it justified for a good man to come home to a place that is barely standing? I knew a man who was an honest, hardworking, virtuous man. He worked day and night to bring home a paycheck that was barely enough to fix a panel in the floor. I went there after he had car problems (I replaced his starter for him). It is upsetting to see impoverished people. The sight induces sadness, anxiety, depression, and sympathy. That isn't a learned response, it is natural, and it says something about how every human should have dignity. The roof nearly caving in and the television still had an antenna. Why does a good man live like this? I question whether I should be considered a good person when I commonly say, "you control the outcome." This guy lived with his parents and 2 others in that house. How I am to tell anyone that they should and will continue to live like that because they have chosen it? They did not know any better than the student who just graduated middle school. They are ignorant. They do not know that there is a better world out there because what they need to do is work for tomorrow's food and rent. It is gross to imagine, someone unable to achieve a better status in their life because they have to worry only about that instant, and be in that instant for all of their life. To be worked to the bone day in and out till they die. I pray for them. I hope that they find the right way to a better life. One where they can enjoy a bigger house, a more unified family, healthy food, and an understanding of how to think. I encourage you while you listen to think about the opportunities that are presented to you. What are you doing with them? Every penny really does count. Be the good out there. You are a beacon of light to many who don't have what you do. Do NOT waste that. Go change the world, and if you don't believe you can, start trying. It takes a bigger man to try and fail than to never try.
-Dom