Life Is But A Dream

I feel like I haven't written for years. My life is still nowhere near where I want it to be, but I'm making every attempt to make it all that I can.

Last week I volunteered through my workplace for a Catholic non-profit organization that helps lower income and homeless individuals and families in a rough neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. My company is very involved with charity work, which is something that has appealed to me from the beginning. Throughout the week, various people from all three of our companies went into the city and worked on the "Bread Truck." Stops have been set up throughout the neighborhood and we parked for 30 minute intervals and handed out sandwiches, snacks, and drinks to children. It was definitely an eye opening experience, one that made me more than thankful for all that I have and for the neighborhood and the lifestyle in which I was lucky enough to have been raised.

It also made me think. Why are so many famous people heading outside of the United States with their money? Now don't get me wrong; there is a definite need for aid to poorer countries...but why can't the wealth be evenly divided both here and there? There are SO MANY people, especially now as we're heading into a recession who need our help. Welfare programs in the United States are not all that they should be. People are merely given a stipend and once it's gone...their children pay the ultimate price. Let's face it...many of the people who live in poorer communities have substance abuse issues, lack of education, and no means in which to better themselves. Education standards are set far lower than the national average...text books are out-of-date...teachers don't stay because of the dangerous circumstances...and the cycle continues.

I had the chance to talk to a lot of the parents while on the truck, and they were good people for the most part, just as is the case in any neighborhood. It has to be quite humbling to literally accept a hand-out so your children can have a meal...and who's to say it's not the only meal these kids receive for the day?

As I handed out the meals, I watched the children play, many of them giggling and playing with their friends, not realizing that their life is far different than where I came from. Such innocence is something that makes me smile, but also makes me worry. There were a few who looked at their shoes and had "spokeschildren," who explained to me that they didn't speak much...and they were there to "protect" them. What happened in this child's household to make them so sad?

I realize I'm going off on a tangent here, and I have a little more to go, so bear with me.

While volunteering, I met Mark, the Bread Truck driver. He's an extremely well educated man who is being paid just above minumum wage, with school loans up the wazoo. He has a MASTER'S DEGREE and they are paying him peanuts. IT's really amazing...it actually brings me back to when I worked in social services and was paid squat. Why is it that there is no money to pay people who work to help others? There has to be some way that these agencies can pay more.

So now I'm resolved to volunteer again. Actually on my day off this Friday, I'm heading back into the city to work on the Bread Truck. My company gave me some cash to go and buy more food to bring, and I'm going to spend the day hanging out with the kids.

I can hardly wait.

****
LIFE IS BUT A DREAM
by: Lewis Carroll (1832-1898)
BOAT, beneath a sunny sky
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July--

Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear--

Long has paled that sunny sky;
Echoes fade and memories die;
Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die;

Ever drifting down the stream--
Lingering in the golden gleam--
Life, what is it but a dream?