Neutral

What it Takes to be an American
As I absorb another day’s messages of record high numbers of unemployment, starvation along with conflicting reports of employment and general profits going up, my mind wonders away from numbers to actual people. People are still primal animals that will satisfy their needs for survival by resorting to doing anything that pays for their food and shelter which is causing the unemployment numbers to go down and money to go back into the economy.
Ha, I laugh as I set out to avoid this latest offer of false hope by allowing my mind to travel to a fonder story. My mail carrier, glowing in his elegance and happiness to be new at his job, renewed my heart as I learned a lesson I will never forget. We are all equal and should be happy to be alive and doing whatever job we can acquire. I see that gentleman doing all that he can for all us on his route while I realize through conversation that he is new with the Post Office as a result of loving his family and losing his executive position with a major corporation that no longer exists. Only my Ms. Recession Scrooge landlord sees the differences in people, she thinks that her tenants are rats that don’t even deserve dry cages. Maybe my sophisticated mail carrier with his smile as he serves all with kindness worked for one of the automotive dealerships that closed recently to help narrow the profit margin for Mr. and Mrs. Recession Scrooge. I further contemplate whether or not the reporter that wrote of the positive numbers questioned his landlord as to why it was ok not to fix appliances, doors and leaking ceilings.
There are examples all around us; I am escorting you through these stories to help you understand why our country is in a recession. We avoid the truth and turn our heads if we see anyone needing anything at all. We have become a nation of selfish Recession Scrooges.
Mr. Recession Scrooge, did you know that while you are ignoring why people are living under bridges another child died by a garbage can? That child’s mother’s heart cried for time to go backward so that she could have begged the gasoline station owner to let them spend the night in the bathroom. Her daughter is dead with the reporter talking of numbers that are offering hope that the recession may be ending. Real tears touched my cheeks as I realized that it did not matter to her that the numbers were going up or down. The mother that watched her daughter die by the garbage can had suffered through her worst in this recession storm. According to Mr. Recession Scrooge and the reporter, her daughter was a necessary loss to the recession to help profit margins climb upward. The profit margin may climb upward, but her daughter climbed six feet under to never climb either way again.
I had some grapefruit for dinner, a treat. Fresh fruit is expensive. Processed sugar is, too. Good, my teeth are not as young as they used to be. Have you ever been hired if you could not smile with confidence? Even the dentist’s ads talk about that job-hiring smile with teeth. If you have no teeth, you are not employable. Yes, there is that prejudice regarding older people with dental problems they cannot afford to fix. Is affording a job living beyond your means? I just saw an article of choice among the Mr. and Mrs. Recession Scrooges, the title says it all, “Five Signs That You Are Living Beyond Your Means.” I have to chuckle, if you never have money for gas/food and your bills are getting paid later and later every month, you are probably living beyond your means. If you need further signs, we could add in the lost or painful teeth, the dead daughter or go the Humane Society and try to find the family pet that was put to sleep because no one had the money to feed him. The dead girl’s mother was glad that she had not told her daughter that Fido was dead. Not to mention the fact that Fido only understood that his family deserted him, he would have died at some point of either starvation or a broken heart anyway. Putting him to sleep was kind; he had no idea that he was considered another necessary victim of the recession.
Then I looked across the street at the beautiful house with boarded windows and doors. I didn’t see a for rent sign or a foreclosure sign. I wondered to myself what it would be like to own a house like that and how beautiful it could be. As I continued to dream of rocking on the front porch, I heard laughter coming from inside, which startled me into reality. I was forced to remember that the United States is in a recession as I saw the sad face of a child peering through one of the cracks in the window between the boards. She must have been eating mush as the electricity and water had been turned off. This is a time in history when those that are dying may possibly be better off than those of us that are trying to survive the recession. If we are going to live through this recession, we are going to have to pay attention to how our forefathers survived possibly worse times than these. We have to become a nation of people working together with our walls built out of prejudices torn down.
Ms. Recession Scrooge landlord arrived at my door dressed in her finery to gather my rent money. I almost did not recognize her because she looked like six other women I saw that day. I forgot to give her the money because I was wondering why human plastic didn’t crack. I also looked for empathy in her face and a hint that she may be a real person when I saw a faint sign of humanity coming from some part of her. My heart sank as I realized that she was only drooling over the money that I had not yet handed her. Oh, by the way, I saw a doctor the other day with a duffle bag over his shoulder walking aimlessly. When do you think this man that was once considered the elite among us will be able to afford his next job?
Sandra Speer
August 2009

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