How does it feel being poor? he asked it so matter-of-factly that it was almost scientific. I was about 12, and Willie Henkleman, one of my neighbors on Mountain Way, in the small town of Rutherford, had gotten to the heart of things. How did I feel about my relative socioeconomic status?
It was a couple days after Christmas, and we, meaning me and about 5 guys from the neighborhood, were outside exchanging details...gift details. In other words, what we got for presents on the biggest day of the kid year. I had just gotten through telling them, with some pride, about the radio I got, and the books, and some clothes. Then Willie chimed in with his razor-sharp wit, and total lack of tact. He was always such an asshole, and proud of it. His grandfather used to be the local chief of police, and he knew he could do about anything he wanted. Including calling out other teens for their apparent poverty.
I guess that, after visiting places like Newark, and Passaic, I hadn't thought I was financially deprived. Maybe Willie should have taken more trips to places like downtown Paterson, before he started his interrogations. Maybe that would have opened his mind up to the big picture.
Somehow, I doubt it. You can take a kid out of Rutherford, but you can't take the suburb mentality out of the kid. Or something like that.
No comments:
Post a Comment