...quiet, about a lot of things...
Monday, November 26, 2007
All for One
V-Grrrl has a very entertaining post (in the good and funny; as well creepy and stalkerish way) up over at her blog.. The Good Samaritan Gone Bad.
I too, have invited strangers into my home. I guess in reality, it was my mothers home, but at the time, I didn't know the difference. The first time,I was a freshman in college. I met a friend at school who had moved from Arkansas to attend Cal State Los Angeles. Why?? Really it's a very logical question. The campus was almost entirely concrete..and had no dorms. 100% commuter.
I was there because my mother had run out of money..and forgotten I was supposed to be leaving for college..Yep LEAVING.As in Departing.... flying far far away. But with the cupboards bare, I was left local..driving to a college 30 minutes, yet a world away from where I came from.
I was shocked to find out that my fellow students, considered me a little snotty. This only got worse when every one in the theatre department, discovered I had graduated from an all girl, private high school in Pasadena. I then became known as the rich girl.
WHAT A JOKE! Had I been "said" wealthy debutante..there is no WAY IN HELL..I would have been even 500 miles of my house. Alas, I was in my present situation, because I was a middle class girl...
And there in, lies the rub. I was so busy looking at the year at THIS college, as some sort of purgatory, a penance if you will;that I didn't notice others were happy to be there. Happy, just for the chance to go to college, perhaps the first in their families to do so. In hindsight, I was a whole LOT of snotty. I ended up learning much that year.
Things like, I was much more middle class, than upper. That everything my mother gave me was not just crumbs, but tons more than some of my "New Friends" had. that, and, oh yeah...you don't have to be rich to have talent. I also figured out, that the nose up position I had perfected, did not suit me. In fact, I think it led to a lot of tripping, and other mishaps.
So I made it my business to climb down off my high horse, and get a real life, not a faux privileged one. I hung out in coffee shops instead of espresso bars. (Remember this was early 80's...so there was not a Starbucks on every corner..yet. Real espresso bars were few and far between..and pretty swank? OK, at least I thought they were!)
Which brings me to my friend..Tammy from Arkansas. She and her mother had moved so that Tammy could become a STAR. Probably not much chance of that..but hey..we were all young and optimistic back then. They rented an apartment..and promptly got evicted about two months into the fall semester. Little thing called "PAYING THE RENT"
My mother had been gone, I think in Hawaii...and I offered to let them stay with us..for a few days..which turned into a few months. My mother was livid. She went off to work, Tammy and I went off to school, and Tammy's mother stayed in our house all day, and watched the Price Is Right and "her stories".
I don't exactly remember how it ended..but I don't think it ended well. I just could not bear the thought of them living in their car....
I hadn't come to realize that sometimes the most helpful thing you can do for people..is help them help THEMSELVES.
So lets hear your Good Samaritan stories??..I have more...I've brought home all sorts of strays. But lets hear from you first.
I too, have invited strangers into my home. I guess in reality, it was my mothers home, but at the time, I didn't know the difference. The first time,I was a freshman in college. I met a friend at school who had moved from Arkansas to attend Cal State Los Angeles. Why?? Really it's a very logical question. The campus was almost entirely concrete..and had no dorms. 100% commuter.
I was there because my mother had run out of money..and forgotten I was supposed to be leaving for college..Yep LEAVING.As in Departing.... flying far far away. But with the cupboards bare, I was left local..driving to a college 30 minutes, yet a world away from where I came from.
I was shocked to find out that my fellow students, considered me a little snotty. This only got worse when every one in the theatre department, discovered I had graduated from an all girl, private high school in Pasadena. I then became known as the rich girl.
WHAT A JOKE! Had I been "said" wealthy debutante..there is no WAY IN HELL..I would have been even 500 miles of my house. Alas, I was in my present situation, because I was a middle class girl...
And there in, lies the rub. I was so busy looking at the year at THIS college, as some sort of purgatory, a penance if you will;that I didn't notice others were happy to be there. Happy, just for the chance to go to college, perhaps the first in their families to do so. In hindsight, I was a whole LOT of snotty. I ended up learning much that year.
Things like, I was much more middle class, than upper. That everything my mother gave me was not just crumbs, but tons more than some of my "New Friends" had. that, and, oh yeah...you don't have to be rich to have talent. I also figured out, that the nose up position I had perfected, did not suit me. In fact, I think it led to a lot of tripping, and other mishaps.
So I made it my business to climb down off my high horse, and get a real life, not a faux privileged one. I hung out in coffee shops instead of espresso bars. (Remember this was early 80's...so there was not a Starbucks on every corner..yet. Real espresso bars were few and far between..and pretty swank? OK, at least I thought they were!)
Which brings me to my friend..Tammy from Arkansas. She and her mother had moved so that Tammy could become a STAR. Probably not much chance of that..but hey..we were all young and optimistic back then. They rented an apartment..and promptly got evicted about two months into the fall semester. Little thing called "PAYING THE RENT"
My mother had been gone, I think in Hawaii...and I offered to let them stay with us..for a few days..which turned into a few months. My mother was livid. She went off to work, Tammy and I went off to school, and Tammy's mother stayed in our house all day, and watched the Price Is Right and "her stories".
I don't exactly remember how it ended..but I don't think it ended well. I just could not bear the thought of them living in their car....
I hadn't come to realize that sometimes the most helpful thing you can do for people..is help them help THEMSELVES.
So lets hear your Good Samaritan stories??..I have more...I've brought home all sorts of strays. But lets hear from you first.
2 Comments:
Well as my post revealed, even after five years of trying to get S. to help herself, we still failed.
I also took a woman in one time who I knew peripherally, someone who attended my church and was on the fringes of my life. She showed up at my door in a blood stained shirt after some sort of altercation involving the girlfriend of a former boyfriend or some such thing. She stayed one or two nights...I never pressed her for details on anything and later considered the fact that for all I knew she might have assaulted someone and been hiding out at my house. She didn't have any injuries--and there was all that blood on her clothes.
I'm far too interested in hearing other's stories - mine would be terribly boring I'm afraid. I am not a v good Samaritan - I maybe was when I was younger, but now it's too long ago to remember. I'd have to look up my 1980 diaries when I was in Good Samaritan mode and much younger and much nicer probably with much more energy and selflessness. :)
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