Recession Bites

Ok so its been a little over 4 months since I got back in the S of A, time sure does fly fast. Personally its been a bit of a rollercoaster ride, big plans when I left the ship, aaand reality plans since I've been back. Its not all bad, but things tend to take shape a little slower, and patience is definitely a virtue when money is tight. Back in ship-world the effects of this 'recession' are virtually unknown. Get your pay every 2 weeks and you're good to spend on whatever basically.

Soo now with a big dose of reality, something I saw the other morning reminded me of the first time I saw it happen. That time was a late afternoon driving up our road to the house I saw this black dude digging through the garbage bags outside someone's driveway. My first instinct was to hoot and I did. The guy turned and looked at me in with no expression and hardly moved. No sooner had he looked up, he was quickly down again to his treasure hunt. My toot was a mere tweet in his memory now. I had carried on up the road already but I won't forget that look.

Forward to the future and this morning I peered through the window rubbing my eyes and yawning. Its a beautiful sunshine in the garden, todays looking promising. Looking a little further through our fence and aah there's reality again. The same dude again with a friend were having a field day going through all our neighbor's garbage. Ok so they weren't really tearing it apart with there teeth or anything, more like sorting the best from not-so-good. I was just standing and watching for a few minutes at first. Only after I thought about taking the photos, but only for this blog don't get me wrong. While I was taking the photos thats only when I started to notice how meticulous they were, examining and making precise openings. Once satisfied then careful to make sure the bags were as secure as they started. It was well evident with my zoom lens and after a couple of snaps I felt I had enough.
One or two shots has a man get out his car and lay his garbage bags right in front of their noses. They might have said 'thank you', or just nodded I'm not sure, and he just carried on his way.

Anyways the point is I felt a bit bad about my first reaction and realize now that this a sad truth to a big problem. There seems to be an mutual understanding I saw that morning and I hope its happening in this way all over. Times are certainly tough, lets try to deal with with it together and help a brother or sister along the way..