dear daisy,
nocturnal - had two cups of kenco coffee (it's freeze dried, so what?) after a drive-away at fenway with the housemate for fun and to watch boston's brightly lit skylines. (the radio played skynyrd lynrd's freebird - cause i like the chorus so much) - i was happy, and now i can't sleep.
we went all the way from our cozy, nice neighborhood into the urban, metropolitan of boston until the business district, everything was aesthetically perfect and not at once we encountered any addicts or homeless on our journey despite the fact that MA has the highest rate of opiod abuse users, rank 10th out of 50 states in the highest rate of poverty and problems with homelessness. as a foreigner (and Muslim) whom mr. president candidate loathe so much, i began to wonder, what is so great about America? and American Dreams, is just an illusion, like the glass city depicted in 1000 years of solitude by gabriel garcia marquez. because to be great in life in the states, the chance is most likely depending on your parentage, household income, neighborhood, skin color and background. most kids who belong to one of the parents who served time in jail, will most probably repeat the same cycle with at least once-in-their lifetime they will be getting incarcerated.
are we being deluded from the fact that there are menacing problems with the city and its people because of too much focusing on foreign policies and economic blocs. (heck, i am so against TPPA) i came across nicholas kristof writing on urban poverty this morning - something that wasn't been discussed in the presidential debate. 'three big tvs at home, but still go hungry everyday' and some of the houses had air-conditioning, but not food on the table.
i have no t.v. at home, so everything that i watch, listen or read is by this cheap, asus laptop that i got on a bargain at midvalley mall, malaysia (150 dollar cheaper than in boston). also, i am still using the same running shoes for the past two years and half for somekinda sentimental reason.. plus my scholarship is not that much that i can brag about cause i am pretty sure that i ranked among one of those people living on a breadline.
kristof was right that the root problem of this cause is 'even the presidential candidates did not discuss this'. million of kids go hungry because their parents could not get their mind straight for the responsibility. due to hunger, many kids resort to join gangs or steal from the shop. why not at once, the state prosecute the big pharmacies who introduced the opiod for substitute (wtf) (like - fentanyl (which killed prince) and is 100 times stronger than heroine. why not investing in a better system, provide support through healthcare, community services, jobs and free meals that extend not just to the kids, but to the whole family which can be done proactively by the community as part of the healing process. i am not asking the states to act like duterte - this is not a no man's land without law and civic.
despite the great stories about harvard university - the richest academic institution in the world with estimated endowment of 35.7 billion dollar - failed to provide their cafeteria workers with better wages and healthcare system. harvard cafeteria workers strike and after three weeks, finally the union and university reached the agreement - strike won! harvard gave in. power to the people.
looking at this, it is most likely that no-corporation will do anything to ease the burden and improve conditions of the lower and middle income class, unless they are being pressured by the masses. the corporations are more than capable to provide basic needs and human rights. it is always total capitalism that the corporation's sole interest is to benefit their board of directors and share holders.
that is how generally things work in this world. where 1% own more than 60% of the world's wealth - the rest are slaves to the system.
and all these arguments and facts lead us to the concept of game theory (john nash, God bless him and his wife)
what if joker was right to team up with two-face and batman is not the only solution to this rampant problems.
check this - game theory - the dark knight - batman vs joker
back to the initial issue again, on urban poverty and hunger - how can we tackle this?
