My Own Bed

I got home from Seattle last night. It never amazes me how, no matter how much fun you have on vacation, you are always happy to get home and sleep in your own bed. It was especially nice for me as I spent most of my last day in Seattle having an allergy attack. It seems that air travel is really good for my sinuses. I think the only time I feel completely un-congested is when I am flying at 28,000 feet. To bad I had to sit in a middle seat. No problem as I slept most of the way home anyway.

Speaking of not having your own bed to sleep in, I have to tell you that when I left my hotel yesterday morning and walked the nine blocks down to Pike Place Market, I was stopped 32 times by homeless people asking me for change. Yes, I counted them. Now before you leftist liberals get your mutual dander in an uproar, I do not have a problem with homeless people. I was more disturbed by the fact that there were so many in such a short span. I mean it was nine blocks. I was probably asked for change by more than 100 people in the four days I was in Seattle. What are we doing to this country that so many people are forced to beg for change in order to live? It really disturbs me. Probably because I know that I have some relatives that are just a few bad breaks from being there themselves.

When Nick and I were returning from the bar on Super Bowl Sunday, well really it was more like Super Bowl Monday morning, a man asked us to spare some change. Now I have to admit, that I hardly ever give change to the people who are asking for it in the Bay Area. Especially those people who are standing by a traffic light or a freeway entrance and asking every car that drives by. I once read that some of those people pull in about $30,000 a year doing that. However, I assumed that since it was 3:00 AM, and cold, that this guy was probably truly homeless. I didn’t have any change or for that fact a bill under a twenty, so I just gave him the twenty. My son thought I was crazy or drunk…truth was it was a little of both.

I didn’t tell you that story so that I would appear magnanimous. In actuality, I really am not. My son and I discussed this the next day. I tried to impart to him that although $20 is not a lot of money for me, it is a lot of money for someone who is begging for change. I think Nick understood, as he also thinks that $20 is a lot of money. I just think that we can only address big issues, like the homeless, with big gestures. Seeing people have to live like this is very frustrating for me. I paid over $22,000 last year in taxes and yet it seems my tax money is not going to address the big issues in this country. We spend billions on homeland security to do things like slow down air travel for the average person, but we can’t help our own citizens get something to eat or a warm place to live. What I would like to see is how many terrorists we have apprehended while they were trying to board an airplane. So far, all I have noticed is that we have confiscated a shit load of lighters. I wish our government would spend less time trying to make us all afraid of everyday life and more time taking care of the people who need it in this country. America land of the free and the brave…yep, you are free to live on the street and brave the elements.

OK, stepping off my soap box now.