And now, a rant.

I really almost lost my mind today. I stood and listened to my aunt ramble on about this time she took my cousin to Toronto and saw him looking at the homeless people. Of course he had never seen a homeless person before. My aunt told everyone at the table (a group of elderly church women) how she explained to her son that they were not to feel sorry for this person because they weren't really poor. They are tricking you to get money she said, dressing up and pretending to be poor and we shouldn't feel bad for them. We shouldn't make eye contact and ignore them completely.

I could go off in a huge bitch rant about how this sends me into a fit of anger that borders on rage. At the time I actually stopped her and said, "That is terrible. That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard." What I wanted to say was, listen bitch, your son deserves the truth. The truth is that this person may or may not have chosen this life for themselves. Who are you to judge them? Who are you to say we don't need compassion in this world? Go ahead, teach your child not to make eye contact but heaven forbid you ever fall on hard times and need help. Heaven forbid you ever feel the shame of asking for a handout. You don't have to give money to people on the street but don't make them out to be criminals and scary people to children. I hate ignorance and I hate spreading ignorance to children even more.

She told me I was too young to understand and to wait until I was older to speak about such things... Oh good. You're an ageist too. Even better than I thought.

....

I'm 21 years old and have been lucky enough to have seen and experienced three times as much as you. Fuck off. The older I get the more amazed I am with the attitude of my elders towards the rest of society. These are the people who raised me? I don't recognize them sometimes. I am confused but mostly sad. I don't want people to be perfect. I want the opposite. I want recognition of bias and flaw. You may not understand and that's okay. You don't always have to be right and neither do I.

I've run out of words.
It's bed time.