[From Vivien Limon, California (Southern, which is different than Northern)]

I have a problem I’m not willing to admit. They say talking about it is good for you. They also say that admitting it is the first step to recovery. So here goes…for the last six months or so I have been more than a liberal (bad word in the “free” United States now), I even have flirted. Ok more than flirted with calling myself a Socialist, Green Party and even Anarchist. I didn’t have any belief in our system anymore. Now, I won’t go into why I believe that our country is on the wrong track but I will say that I feel I have a horrible secret now. You know what that is? Capitalism. Yup. The same thing that defines our country and the hated Republicans…(I don’t really hate Republicans but I dislike some of the things they do). I own stocks. What’s more they are S&P 500 stocks. Sorry. But it gets worse. In the last two weeks I have begun to save money to buy a franchise…oh oh. I’m definitely a lost cause. I want to sell vitamins and Body Shop, and I’d like to get into online,
*cough, cough* stuff…I guess I’m hippocrite. I’m trying to redo my ideas. I still agree with some Socialist-Green Party-Anarchist stuff but I’m also going to have to admit that I like some things of Captitalism. Maybe I’ll make a political party called Pseudo-Capitalism or Half-Captitalism. I don’t know. Any ideas would be gratefully taken.

We were at the Urgent Care yesterday taking care of my sister’s bad ankle when I decided to look up (I rarely look up, which is a shame since so much of what’s special is found there). I saw a man sitting against the wall. At first glance, he looked homeless. I hate to say, I generalized. But upon closer examination, I decided I was wrong. His shoes, they looked like work shoes, were spotless and even looked new. His clothes were clean and again looked taken care of. He was wearing a cap, or a beanie looking cap. I decided because of the cap, he could be a navy or ship person. Then he started to read his book. The book looked like it was an older published book. It had no bookjacket. I couldn’t make out the title since I didn’t have my glasses (which are on order). His glasses were basic black and the kind of simplest kind. I mean nothing fancy or trendy. In fact, the kind that cost the least. But he was careful with them. At one time he saw a young boy try to exercise by doing
push-ups. He called to him, asked his name, introduced himself and gave him so tips as well as encouragement. You know what, it struck me after my initial impression that I was way off…I need to work on first impressions. Obviously, I’m not fair about them. But more importantly, how am I seen? What’s my first impression? Am I as simple as him? Do I want to be? Yes, I do.