Disparity

The daily walk down 1st or 2nd Ave and along the waterfront makes clear some of the odd, well, disparities, about living in this city.

Within a half dozen blocks:

There are multiple stores where people can buy organic food and chemical free bedding - for their pets.
vs.
There are also people, either homeless or just hungry, who ask for food, or money for food.

There are multiple million dollar high rise residences which are in some cases second residences based on the lack of lights on at night.
vs.
There are people sleeping on cardboard boxes on the doorsteps of those buildings.

People will put on hundreds of dollars of clothing on a Saturday night to spend a fair fraction of that on drinks and dancing.
vs.
People will beg those same people for change while walking between bars.

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These are the two extremes I admit. The majority of life along these streets are normal people working normal jobs living in normal looking apartments.

These disparities will always exist, and will exist everywhere. There are some cities that try mightily to create two different worlds for the two extremes, there are others which are more open about it. Any place I've lived there have been agencies that have worked to try to bridge the gap between the two extremes, and I've worked with a variety of them over the years, but is there a good answer other than to carry on in that manner?

I found it odd that I would get asked for change when in college (loans for tuition and a part time job for spending money), and that was just Raleigh.

I now don't know what to think when I get asked. I presently have some amount of money expressed as electrons in a database somewhere. I don't exactly carry a lot of it around. There are multiple shelters/soup kitchens within a couple miles of where I'd get asked for money which by all public accounts are not overburdened.

No notable conclusion or remark here - just some observations on the day.

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That said, it is brilliantly sunny here - so it's time to go for a walk.