Good story, good writing. Generally I don’t want to “walk in the gutters.” Generally I want to get away from that. But there were positives in the story content. The two kids went to the convenience store and didn’t hustle sex for drugs, which is maybe what people do, but not what I want to delve into.

I road a bus through Baltimore once and it shocked me. I couldn’t help thinking - this scumhole is what Johnny Unitas made famous? There were some black kids with us on the bus, but I couldn’t help my disgust - “so how do I get a job sitting on a bench holding a paper-bagged bottle?” And “how much do they pay you for that, anyway?”

I guess I wanted everyone to feel insulted that this is what our humanity sinks to - wanted everyone to feel angry enough to do something about it. Deminizer is right when he says education is the only way out.

Maybe he’s right to keep reminding us of the seedy side of hopelessness. But I want to get at how did we get there in the first place - what caused this disease, and why won’t people heal themselves of it.

I wish, my friend, I knew the how and why and what to do, but all I know is the when and the where, so I’ll write about that. I think part of the way to fix a problem is to recognize it, point it out, and learn from it. Well, I can do the recognize it and point it out part, beyond that I am clueless. I’d write happier stuff if I were a happier person with happier experiences. Hopefully smarter people than myself can cure this disease that I’ve endured for far too long, but I lived in the gutters for many years and still straddle the line between light and dark, so I write about what I know. Fact is, I think it helps in some way but I could be wrong. My wife will tell you, I often am.

Although I don’t quite understand stokeycat’s reference to Black kids being on the bus with her/him in Baltimore, I suppose I should add something. I AM insulted, and I take offense to the self-righteousness of anyone who would venture into a neighborhood like this and pass judgment.

Have you ever had a dream stomped out of you? Stolen? Have you ever cried to be heard as everyone within distance stepped farther back to get out of reach of your screams? Have you ever cried to be present, continually, and continually been marked absent although you’re standing right in front of their faces?

You don’t stomp someone continually and, as they rise, strike them harder, and then ask, rather, DEMAND that they heal themselves. Our humanity? Their humanity was taken by your “civility.” Marked 2/3 human in your “humane and civil” Constitution. That is the legacy given the American Slave descendant. That and the ignorance of the American white descendant. Some WILL escape as is always the case. But the mentality slave-to-master is strong in America. America changed reluctantly. Against its will. And it shows in the attitudes of our government and comments like yours.

Do I believe in America? Do I feel American? Do I look into American history and feel pride? Do I see the beginning of a glorious nation? America was not created for me nor was it created for the equality of all mankind. So, please, drop the “sinking humanity” garbage. America’s “Humanity” began in the gutter. Education IS the key, but whose education? Not theirs. I don’t know you, but your remarks made me sick to my stomach.

The cure is accountability. Not their accountability. America’s accountability. The problem with that is America doesn’t feel responsible. They acknowledge the longterm effects of abuse, but not the effects of their abuses against American Blacks.

No person rises to greatness alone, so, please, don’t go into “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps,” “self-healing,” and “helping yourself.” You think “those people” don’t have a dream? Even the kids in this story, they have a dream, whether you allow them to be human or not. Their America is quite different from yours. God bless? They don’t think so, and they, rightfully, don’t believe in this country.

I should also add that when a writer allows his reader to bring something with her to his world, he has done well.