The difference

After our hearbreaking trip thru Philadelphia, we visited the west suburbs where Ji would work and where her friends live. Figuratively speaking, the difference between those suburbs and the city is like night-and-day. Houses, still old and cute, are well maintained, yards taken care of, clean, inviting and warm. A dream place to live in.

I have lived in many countries, cultures that had different financial backgrounds and I made one observation. The surroundings of the place is a reflection of the CULTURE people represent, not their financial means, race, or nationality. There are people in the sub-tropics that do not have running water, or electricity, and their houses are clean, taken care of and inviting. There are reed-thatched houses in rural Japan that are radiant, neat and cozy.

The contrast between Philly and its suburbs is more than the black-and-white. True, you will be hard press to find a white folk in the city, outside downtown, or vice-versa for the suburbs. Let's not fall for an easy-out racial explanation. Excuses are not helping anybody.

Both Philly and burbs have beautifully build houses, but each represents different cultures. Cultures of individuals that inhibit them. Be it rich, poor, black, white, or white-trash, or whoever else it is, even the poorest can be afford to clean up their yard, clean the windows and once in a long while paint the house trims. It is really a question of personal pride in a place you live in.

For all I care those people may choose to live in the caves, but for God-sake, sweep up the cave entrance, don't make it a pig-pan. Not everyone wants to live with the pigs.