JOE MALIK: LET 'EM SUFFER >>>
So Wall Street built on a major rally this week as bits of good news began to bolster investor confidence, giving stock traders an excuse to start buying again. The Wall Street Journal reports that Best Buy Co. and ConAgra Foods Inc. are selling well.
And I could care less. In fact, it concerns me. Why would I be concerned about the stock market making a come back?
Well….
Earlier this week I was pulled over by a Tacoma motorcycle cop. Apparently my mad hustle this past month distracted from the fact that I needed to renew my license tabs. The officer is required to hand out citations for outdated tabs, but when I told him my situation, he told me how to push out the payment schedule and get the fine cut to about $25, which would cover court costs. He gave me a sympathetic smile when he handed me the green slip. It’s the first time in my life I actually felt good about getting a ticket.
When I read about this Wall Street rally, I began to wonder. What will happen when stocks are stable again? What happens when the clouds pass? Will acts of kindness like this fade? Will we slide comfortably back into daily routines, where everyday acts of charity and goodness are simply too much trouble?
I sure hope not. Because the more I read, the more I realize what’s happening to people in the face of this protracted disaster.
A police officer in New Hampshire, for example, chose not to arrest a man who was caught shoplifting sandwiches. The man admitted to stealing the sandwiches, and said he had done so because he was homeless and hungry. After convincing his superiors not arrest the man, officer Jeffery Wholley bought the would-be jailbird the sandwiches he had been trying to steal. Wholley received a letter of commendation from his boss, and Cumberland Farms followed up this week with a donation of $1,000 in Wholley's honor to the Laconia Police Relief Fund and $2,500 to the New Hampshire Food Bank.
In Boston, a group of families are hosting birthday parties for kids in homeless shelters. The group calling itself Birthday Wishes brings cake, goodie bags and planned activities for kids staying in Bean Town shelters. So far, more than 1000 kids have celebrated a birthday that probably would have sucked otherwise.
A pharmacist in Alabama, meanwhile, gave his staff $16,000 in bonuses to help stimulate the local economy. And here’s the really cool part â€" he required his employees to spent 15 percent of the bonuses on charity, and demanded that the rest be spent locally. He paid them all in $2 bills so they would be noticed as people passed them from hand to hand.
In Bell County Los Angeles, a group of citizen volunteers organized a push to help a local food bank shore up its stock. Fliers distributed about a local food program’s extreme shortage led to 3,000 pounds of food flooding in.
In Illinois, Dr. Gary Turpin placed a small ad in a newspaper saying he would treat, for free, all of his regular patients who had lost their jobs.
Now I’m not getting sappy about this stuff; if for no other reason than my belief that charity and goodness shouldn’t be made a spectacle of. Acts of kindness shouldn’t be accompanied by a press release, if you know what I mean. Like in the stories above, charity and acts of good will belong in the realm of every day life. If there’s an upside to this damn recession, it’s that people are moved to help in simple, small, gloriously inspiring ways. For real, let the fucking stock brokers struggle some more. I’m kind of digging all this humanity.
LINK: PREVIOUS UNEMPLOYED IN TACOMA COLUMNS ON SPEW
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