Ms Linda, I like your comments about the fact that many wealthy people are generous to charities. Goodness of heart is not for the poor and struggling only. I also liked your take on how much time and effort is expended on getting to the top. Very true. You are a CFO and I am a maintenance man that loves the desert, and that might suggest that we are more understanding than angry about a pretty building in Japan. I would bet you that it will also withstand an earthquake of 7.5 or less.

Shell, your comments about LA being a dirtbag is not all true. Fog Is common to San Fran but the smog in LA has been lowered every year due to constant vehicle testing. As a kid in the LA area the smog was so bad that my lungs would ache. We covered our mouths with clothing while waiting for the school bus. That was over 40 years ago and upon moving back to LA in 82 or so, I have never had another smogged out lung episode. Things are getting massively out of control with population but the Gov is working on things to make life better. I was downtown during the LA riots because I was curious. I took a 35mm cannon to shoot some people with. I had the Cannon camera under a poncho and was talking to black people a half a block from where the white truck driver was pulled out and beaten. Those blacks around me were not angry with me but they were excitable. One of them might have gotten upset with me but they did not. There was a black wino sitting in the recess of a closed store entrance in filthy clothes. He looked very sad so I said hello. We talked for a little and he told me a story about losing his wife. It's hard to remember but I think she was in a line at LAX and he tried to talk her into coming back home. By this time in the story he was crying pretty hard. I wanted to give him some money to help out a little but I didn't want to offend him after the time we shared. So I asked if I could have a hit of his wine. He looked almost startled for a second and then offered me a sip. I thanked him and then felt able to give him a few bucks in return. We shook hands and then I went to a rooftop to catch some more pictures of fires and people.

I am rambling on severely but I think the moral of my story is that we are all brothers and sisters from one common mother Earth. We are all jammed into this overcrowded world. We can complain, curse and try to rise above the next guy, or we can close our eyes for a minute to clear our senses. We can look back to the playground of our childhood and remember how good that was. We can relive our mistakes but not let them condemn us. We can be the good or bad inside us at any given moment so why not close our eyes at times and try to see the world as our playground again.

If there is a God, it might give me Grace for listening to a wino in downtown LA. If there is no God then there must be real goodness in man. Sorry for going on and on.

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