so, this is something that stumps me. Viktor is here, electrical Viktor (not the pastor), and he came to my mother yesterday morning, knocked on the door, and said with his hands raised, "any work, Mrs. Mary?"

He has incredible work-ethic. He's been outside in the hot sun for two days, not even wanting to take a break from trimming trees to eat the cake my mother brought him, and he's not a young guy. He's probably 60 or 65, but he's bee-boppin around outside with the tree trimmer and wanting to make our yard beautiful, because he needs money and isn't afraid to work for it. Why is it that we Americans struggle with the welfare system so much? Our government wants to provide for the people that genuinely need it, like retired old men and women with kids, but we also expect that if you're capable of working, you will, and not everyone does that.

In fact, most people don't do it. Women have more babies so they can get more free money and spend it on their cars or their tvs and not shoes for their 5 kids, and young guys that should be working find a way to get on welfare and knock up chicks so that they don't have to work. that makes no sense to me, and it makes me understand how frustrating it is to deal with welfare, and why people like Carlos, one of our YL leaders, wants to get rid of the welfare system and thinks it's a terrible thing that's happened to black people. No wonder he hates it. It's used in a corrupted way with 90% of the people that use it, and it's frustrating.

And then I watch Viktor, who has lived a long life and might have the chance to retire in a good job, but instead is trimming our trees in a hope to get money for his family. And I respect him for it, quite a lot.