“THE SYSTEM”
So Rio Ferdinand was transferred from Leeds United to Manchester United for 29.1 million pounds. He had actually broken a world record for the amount of money paid for a soccer defender when Leeds United had paid 18 million pounds to buy him from West Ham United. A more recent outrageous contract in the world of sports was that of Veron Wells who got 126 million dollars over seven year period for swinging a bat. That equals to eighteen million for twelve months – a ‘millie’ and a half a bloody month. People can’t get a million and a half in a lifetime but Veron gets it in a month for swinging a bat. He does not even break a sweat. When is the last time you saw a sweating baseball player?
This is why the ‘System’ is fucked – it is outrageously tough to make it to the top but once at the top it really becomes like the food chain and you become a beast. Our social system is structured in such a way that those in power or with power (by ‘power’ I really mean money in this context) will hold their position and even eliminate competition (think of Wal-Mart or even Tim Horton’s taking out independent store owners in smaller communities). I wanted to change phone lines for the house but I can not because Rogers is the only company which services the area I live in – they have no competition here and they hold a monopoly. Bastards!
Back to Veron Wells for a second. Is it not really messed up that a country as Kyrgyzstan with a population of 5, 213, 898 million people receives fifty million dollars in economic aid from the US while a baseball player makes not quite half but almost half of that for chewing gum or tobacco or whatever baseball players chew? I think it is insane, or I am insane! Damn, there is something really, really wrong here.
I was waiting for the light to change at the exit of the 404 at Hwy. 7 when I saw a girl, perhaps my age with a little sign saying: “Please help . . .” I did not finish reading her sign because I knew the light would change and I hurried to find money. No change so I grabbed a five dollar bill as I put down my window. She was slowly walking beside the stopped cars: Mercedes, Lexus, Volvos are the kind of cars in that area. Nobody was giving her any attention. Her dog tied up to a street sign near the intersection did not seem to care ether. I saw it from far, a mutt starring at the sky. I stuck my hand out the window holding the five folded in two, between the index and the middle finger of my left hand as if I was buying a drink at a bar. The expression on her face was priceless! I suppose she was stupefied. As she took it out of my hand I asked her if she smoked weed.
“No,” she replied.
“I was going to offer you some but,” the light changed I put it in first and left.
How does a “street-kid” not smoke weed? Are they not supposed to be filthy and druggies and all that good stuff? I wish more people would take the time to think about those in need. There are a lot of good people who just hit rock-bottom due to the most unusual circumstances. Being at the bottom of society is like being at its top though, you have your spot ‘secured’ and it is pretty hard to get out of it.
I keep asking myself of why we as a society allow some to ‘acquire’ so much wealth while others live on the street. It is often those who work for the minimum wage and have the least amount of income that go to baseball games to watch Veron Wells play and who shop at Wall-Mart. I do not think I have ever seen a baseball game where you get a ‘millionaire’s gathering’. Therefore, it is mostly those with low-income and those in the middle class who are making the rich richer. I think we should stop. Well I stopped a few years ago. I do not purchase anything made in a country which supports child labour. I do not buy tickets for baseball nor do I buy base-ball caps. I do not eat fast-food and I do not buy gas from corporations such as Shell and Esso or Exon (depending if you are in Canada or the US). Fuck it and fuck it all! There are people starving while some make a million and a half for being cute swinging a bat!
