Greetings Kossacks! This is my first attempt at a diary - I had been planning on a more esoteric topic, but I thought a more accessible and succinct entry was called for as an introduction. So, let me share the thought that occurred to me tonight, and address my title.
First some background on me - I am from Silicon Valley, Santa Clara actually, and through life circumstances recently fell onto the 'bust' part of the cycle and come back to the neighborhood I grew up in. So, tonight I decided to fish out my flat ol' basketball and sweat out the day's junk food via some practice by myself on the local elementary school court, which is right next to a nice little park. Or at least, a park I remember being nice.
While limbering up I saunter out to the park, and notice a woman walking her dog along the trail. All well and good. Then I notice something else - she has a flashlight out, swinging it along the path in front of her as she walks on. Odd, I think. The sun is setting, true, but not completely, and the park is actually pretty well-lit.
Would an ordinary resident pay it no mind, and simply move along? Maybe. But friends, that is not who I am. To my detriment, I am a scientist, obsessed with finding truth and always (re)considering postulates and previous observations of mine as I go through this life. And what occurred to me here was the egregious increase in income inequality that has occurred in this area since I left years ago. Just today, I took the train home from work, and walking home was struck by the difference between the struggling immigrants I came across in that neighborhood compared to the more affluent households where I live, just a few blocks away.
So was that woman using extra caution with her flashlight because of the increasing crime rate? Had her choice been affected by the phenomenon Bill Moyers and others have recently reported on of the astounding and sometimes crushing difference between what 'winning' and 'losing' means in Silicon Valley, or on the insulated schools of Palo Alto/Atherton and the underfunded and neglected ones of San Jose (or even East Palo Alto)? Does she realize out-of-control income inequality is bad for us all? I'm not sure, but I think there's a decent chance.