What I'm Thankful For

I don't know about you but every time I drive by and see a line of men standing along the side of the road waiting to be picked up for day labor -- I have to stop for a minute and offer a silent prayer for them.  I also go through a list of blessings I have in my life and am quickly humbled.  I have no cause to complain...

Whether I drive by Berkeley or Oakland, there they are -- a row of men, sometimes standing solitary, sometimes huddled in twos or threes -- all having the same expectant look.  I think about how they felt at the end of the day when they don't get picked for a job, having to go return home with nothing to show...empty pockets, empty stomachs.

 
I wonder even if they have a home...or family?  When my own family and I vacationed in Mexico visiting the Yucatan and Quintana Roo regions -- my husband and I were struck by the fact that the people we met there seemed fairly content and well cared for... But that, as I said, was our perception.  We wondered about the many hundreds of people crossing the border "to get a better life" here in the North.  Is life here really any better?

As I was taking photographs, one man approached me and asked if I worked for the paper.  I explained that I was writing a blog.  He revealed that life was tough -- that there were no jobs to be had...I could only agree with him sympathetically … I wish I could tell him differently; that I had the answer on how to create jobs and end poverty.

 

  Teach the people how to fish – instead of giving them the fish…