September 10, 2005
Berkeley, California
The hurricane disaster was just awful and I felt like I had to help. I spent last Friday packing a box with emergency goods for the Red Cross. I included some packs of raspberry kelp tea, a pair of sandals, some rice cakes, a macramé hanging candleholder, some incense, and a couple of Grateful Dead albums. Knowing I was helping someone start a new life made my spirits soar!
On television I saw storm victims being transported to a local gymnasium and I felt moved to open my home to one of these poor people. Saturday I brought home a wonderful 78-year-old black woman named Viola W. Smith. I could see in her eyes the pain of living under the poverty and oppression of the white ruling class and I was glad to free her from this existence.
Viola was thankful to be in a real home and I think surprised to find a middle-aged white woman who was so giving, the exact opposite of cruel slave masters like Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the neo-cons.
From my college education I knew that one of the biggest problems facing someone like Viola would be a feeling of uselessness and lack of purpose so I spent the last few days giving her goals and things she could accomplish to build her sense of worth.
I think I’ve done a pretty good job and a side benefit of this therapy is that my house has never been cleaner, and even the area around the bottom of the shower looks new again!
Although she’s not as fast as I’d like with a vacuum, (bad hip) she more than makes up for it with her delicious meals and nobody cleans a window like Viola.
I only wish I had a bigger house so I could help more of these poor, oppressed people.
I’ve got to go, it sounds like she fell down the stairs again….
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