I'm trying to return to work.  It's harder than it looks.  I'm well-educated, intelligent, and ready to put in the necessary time to make a go of it in todays world, but I don't have the one thing that will ensure my efforts will pay off...a car.

Sometimes I wish I lived in a City with mass transportation.  Frankly, I wish I lived anywhere but Oak Park, Michigan.  Blight and poverty rule.  I can't walk down the street without some sort of protection.  I live in a building with paper thin walls and floors.  Opening the door is an open invitation for trouble.  How did I get here?

I know how I got here.  I had a car accident and needed help.  Silly me.  I actually thought there were people in the world who were genuinely willing to help others.  I needed help paying my bills on time, and meeting the needs of my daughter.  I got neither.  What I did get was a man, two men, three men willing to drain me of all my financial resources to meet their needs.  My daughter and I were moved to a controlled environment.  Like lab rats in a cage.  The "help" I received was nothing short of abusive.  Unskilled and uncompassionate people were hired to help me through a transitory point in my life.  I was screamed at and abused.  My money and belongings stolen.  My daughter was sent to live with her father, a man who wanted nothing more than to be rid of me.  I was almost killed off.  Sent to live in the underbelly of society to never be heard of again.  I was excommunicated from the world because I had an accident and needed help...silly me...it was my understanding that when you ask for help it's provided.

Now I'm stuck.  It's really hard to climb out of a hole with know ladder.  I wouldn't suggest trying it.  I have the grit, fortitude and determination to improve my position, but once you are cast-out it's almost impossible to recover.  I say almost because I have hope.  Hope for what I'm not really sure.

I have hope the sun will come out tomorrow.  I have hope all my efforts will prove to be fruitful and eventually multiply.  I have hope someday someone will take an interest in my plight and give me a helping hand out of the hole I woke up in.  I have hope because without it I think I'd have to give up.  I'd have to roll over and forget my dreams for a better tomorrow.   I'd have to accept the inevitability of poverty - situational and emotional.

I don't want to wake up tomorrow in an impoverished world.  I want to see the sun, and think it's shining or me.  I want to laugh and play like I did so long ago, before the accident that stole my freedom.  I want to see my daughter off to school, go to work, interact with like-minded people, volunteer my time to the needy.  I want to volunteer to help the needy, not be the needy.

This is America - Land of opportunity, or so I thought.  What opportunities await those no one wants to see?  I don't know.  I hope I find out...one day...before I die, that is.