Thursday 31 January 2008

Not all raza mataz

I suppose a lot of us in UK have this idea about America. Everything bigger, faster, more sophisticated. Well, that is mostly right although there are really many areas of really deep deprivation. This is not a racial thing, there are many poor whites.

The idea I have is that the people are more ready to work. They tend to think of other folks. They are not afraid to show their religious beliefs. There is a strong work ethic. I worked for an American firm in UK and was astonished when I found out that their US employees did not have contracts of employment as we did. If the boss chooses to sack someone, it is out the door then and no notice is needed. Whilst I was greatly enamoured of the actual country and it's amazing landscapes, it was the people who made me wish I had been able to work there. I did a six week job swap and it was possibly the best employment I had. One gets some idea from the blog I have guested.Image hosting by Photobucket

TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
Just saying it was cold out last night in south central Wisconsin is quite the understatement. It was beyond really f***ing cold; it was deadly f***ing cold. The base temperature was below zero, and with a 30 knot wind out of the northwest gusting to 50+, the wind chill was easily minus 30. Throw in some snow and you had one nasty night to be outside for even a few minutes. For this reason, I could hardly believe my eyes as I drove up US 12 and came upon a person walking a bicycle along the shoulder of the road.
t was about 9pm, and I was heading home from class at UW Whitewater. The roads were icy, and very few people were on them. Downtown Fort Atkinson, the small city halfway between school and home, was deserted. The McDonald's was empty. It seemed wise to take Highway 12 all the way to Cambridge rather than use the back roads, even though it was a few miles longer. It's a major road and would be in better shape, and I figured if I got into trouble I would be more likely to eventually see another car.

About four miles out of Fort, there was this poor soul, in the dark, trudging along. It took a second for me to realize that I had to stop; this person was truly in danger of either being hit or freezing to death. Except for the two of us, the road was deserted. I backed up and rolled down the window to offer a ride. The voice that responded sounded almost childlike, and I couldn't understand the words because the person was shivering so badly.

Like a dope, I asked if the bike had a flat tire or something. Right. As if the bone-chilling headwind wasn't a factor. "C'mon. I'm driving you home," I said, as I took the bike and put it in the back of the car. "Get in." There was no hesitation on either of our parts. Neither of us was worried the other was a psycho-killer. It was too cold, the need too urgent.

We got in and I cranked the heat. Only then was I able to tell that this was a woman, not too old, but not a kid either. She told me where she was heading: the trailer park off Treiloff Road. That was still at least two miles ahead. "Where were you coming from?" I asked. "The McDonald's," came the reply. That was four or five miles back in Fort Atkinson. Holy shit. She told me, in few words, that she didn't think it was really going to be this bad. Then she said she hoped I wouldn't be going out of my way to drive her home. All the while, her teeth continued to chatter.

Her home turned out to be a modest mobile home at the top of a hill at the end of a dark road... four miles from where I picked her up. I pulled her bike from the car and wished her warmth. She looked my direction, not quite in the eye, and simply said, "Thank you. Thank you very much."

This encounter left me with a mix of feelings and some unanswered questions. For a second, I thought about what a good person I was... probably saved this person's life for god's sake. That self-congratulatory award passed quickly. Then, I began to feel sort of guilty. Here was this person, who probably rode her bike to her low-paying fast food job a good eight miles away from her house several days a week. Even though the nastiness of the night's weather was well-predicted, she made this effort to get to work so as not to miss a day's pay. What might that have been worth? Fifty bucks maybe? I blew that much on the hockey tickets I bought but didn't use last week. Talk about getting myself a serving of perspective with a side order of humility. I guess that's why I bristled when the owner of the coffee place in town labelled her "an idiot" and laughed at her predicament when I related the story to him early this morning.

I have to wonder what kind of will it takes for a person to get a McJob, and then keep it by riding a bike 16 miles round trip each work day. Is this what people have to look forward to as good jobs for those with only a high school education keep being exported? Would someone else have stopped if I hadn't? Is she OK?

John Edwards announced he was pulling out of the presidential race today. I haven't made up my mind about a candidate yet, but I liked his strong position on helping that other America, the people like the woman on the bike. I hope whoever we do nominate takes to heart, and then to policy, his ideas and his values in this area.

It's really f***ing cold again today, but the wind has died down and the sun is shining. And on this day, the woman I helped last night, whose name I don't know, is my hero.

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