Folly on Economics

Where I live, you can walk way, way down to where the "rich" city is, or walk up just a little to a town that Jo Anne tells me is "poor". I guess I am in the middle! Jo Anne can't walk in the city with me, (she is too out of shape to go back up all the steps, she says) so we always go up just a little to the poor town. It has a lot of houses, and many stores. The stores sell water, soda, fruit, meat, fish, vegetables, and used clothes. You can have a haircut or you can get your car fixed. You can take aerobics outside or take guitar classes with boys. You can also buy any kind of candy or ice cream in the world. The houses are all different colors; bright blue, orange, red, yellow, pink, or purple. There are some cars, but most people walk and the kids ride their bikes. There is a bus that comes from the rich city to bring people back and forth.

There are about 1,000,000 dogs. You may not know this, but in my country most dogs live on the roof. I have a house with a deck that is like a roof, but has a railing. The dogs in town do not have railings. None of us ever jump off! We do not have crates! We have heard about crates and can't even imagine a life like that. We are very lucky in our country. In the poor town, everybody knows everybody else. The stores are in the front of peoples' houses, so they open and close at all different times. If a person needs something, the store will open up. There are also stands where people cook soup, tamales, coffee, and tacos. There are no seats or tables, but nobody minds. In the evening, everybody walks up and down the street. The mothers and fathers have one or two little boys or girls by the hand and a baby in their arms. Everyone stops and says how beautiful the babies are. The babies don't seem to cry, because they are always being held. People laugh a lot in the poor town. Music is always playing, but nobody yells "turn it down". The old people, who aren't good at walking anymore, sit on their front steps, or in a chair outside the door.

Jo Anne and I are not really stupid, and we know that having to make a living in the poor town is a lot different than being a retired older lady like her and a young, beautiful girl like me. If she wants to buy a big bottle of water, she always has the 11 pesos. We know that a lot of these people work very hard for little money. But, when they come home, they see their families and friends and they sure seem happy. We don't know what goes on inside their houses, but we sure do feel good walking down the street.