Social Stratification in bits and pieces

"When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home....."

S.E. Hinton ....... Start and finish to "The Outsiders"

.........one of the most masculine books I've ever read. Seriously had everything; orphaned brothers struggling to survive, knife fights, murder, gang brawls, train hopping, and an epic police shoot out, all in a jubilant but sincere depiction of the struggles of classism.
Then after I was done it, I found out it was written by a seventeen year old girl.

Sometimes I think that girls know more about what makes a good man than a good man knows about himself. That might be complete crap though.



The Update....

It occurred to me that you all might be wondering what I've been up to and so I thought I might give you a short update rather than a rant on social inequality.

I got a new room mate this month. A great gentleman named David Janzen who just competted the International Beard growers competition in Anchorage Alaska and who also has some rather b.a. tats and an exceptionally headless faith. The picture is of the two of us. Oh he was also my partner in my first attempt to bike from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay, .... title name 'Glories defeat'.

This last board meeting I was promoted from Coordinator to Director. Which doesn't change a whole lot except for affirmation from the board and the expectation that I'll be able to implement some longer term plans. Also it'll look radical on a resume.

I've been rather busy over the last month, and my blog writing has apparently gotten the the greater portion of neglect. I've been exceptionally busy finishing fundraisers for a trip that will be paying the way for a group of us to go to a 'Native leadership' conference. A lot of the kids are really excited. It'll be really good to take the a few of them, that are still around Thunder Bay for summer, on a road trip to the central states. That's another thing, the drop has had a lot fewer kids as of late, due to most of them going north to their communities for summer. However they blessed me beyond belief with their fair wells. It was one of the last days of school when we were closing and I had to kick out near 40 kids that were trying to make up any excuse not to leave. There was seriously something so spiritual about a group of kids that didn't know each other a few months ago and now just plane not wanting to leave the community that they had built here.

Unfortunately, once they got back home to their reserves many of their communities were placed under 'lock down' due to 'swine flu'. Its a sick and sad world when 'high society' global travelers can carry a disease that leaches onto the 'already open wound' of people in poverty, while the carriers remain insulated from the curse they carry. The rich and white have their urban health care while we lock the doors on our forced forest ghettos.
I've spoken with a couple of kids in 'Sandy lake' (was on National the other day for four confirmed deaths) and they said that they weren't terribly worried yet, but they knew the people who had died and some kids and adults that where infected.



The book 'the outsiders' (for those of you who don't know) is about a town in the mid to late fifties and street wars between 'Socs' (teenage social elites) and 'greasers' (poorer 'street' kids). I've always loved the idea of 'greasers' vs. 'jock/soc' contention partially because of the quaintness of old time white hoodlums but also because of how 'clean' the conflict is and was. There was no arguments about race or religion just straight up "you're rich and have all the breaks and I hate you for it" and "you're poor and hopeless and I'm going to make sure you know it". Classism.

I don't think that those who have money acknowledge or even know how huge an economic divide there is. Or just how meaningful money is. I hate saying that but it's true, that money honestly does make and take lives. In so many ways I'm still so ignorant to the power and affluence that I've been born into, or even understand how much of a struggle it is to move up the social ladder.

Here's a quote from the book...
"It wasn't fair for the Socs to have everything. We were as good as they were: it wasn't our fault we were greasers. I couldn't just take it or leave it, or ignore it and love life anyway, or harden myself beyond caring, or actually enjoy it. I felt the tension growing inside of me and I knew something had to happen or I would explode...... I can't take it much more, I'll kill myself or something ... I got to do something. It seems like there's gotta be someplace without greasers or Socs, with just people Plain ordinary people"

The Church should be that place.

The other day I was at a powwow and was introduced to someone by a mutual friend. She smiled politely and said ..."I don't talk to white people."

The Soc and Greaser divide is a elementary example of how deep a rift there is between privileged and underprivileged and how much more contention there could be over ethnicity and generational systematic oppression. It's an example how needed the church is to speak 'OUR MESSAGE OF THE ENORMITY OF GRACE' to this Huge human hurt through divide. And then, in hope, the ENORMITY OF GRACE OFFERED BACK in forgiveness and reconciliation.





ps I didn't really know who Paul Newmon was but here's a link to a scene, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb1d017bgsk&NR=1 , Truly Historic!!!