Sunday I looked at myself in the mirror of the restroom at
the Union, and I saw my shirt from Ireland and my necklace from a tropical
cruise. In that moment, I felt like an over-privileged white woman, traveling
the world and buying souvenirs while people in other places struggle to get
enough to eat. That didn’t stop me from buying a canoe with Travalon, but then
yesterday I thought about it again. A load of my laundry got stolen from the Laundromat,
which is kind of in the ‘hood. They took my underwear, including my favorite
tie-dyed socks from Willy Street Co-op, my nightgown with little palm trees on
it, my favorite Hawaiian shirt, and a couple of T-shirts I brought back from
Ireland. Maybe this is my penance for being so well off, and now some poor kid
in the ‘hood is going to get to wear shirts from Ireland even if he or she has
no hope of ever visiting there. I actually have never been to Hawaii myself,
but this poor kid has probably never even owned a nice aloha shirt, never mind
having a prayer of setting foot in Hawaii. Anyway, that’s what I like to think,
to make myself feel better about it. This isn’t the first time I’ve had laundry
stolen, but this is the first time they took the whole load. This morning
Travalon took me to Tar-Zhay to buy new underwear, and first we had breakfast
outside. A Med Flight helicopter flew overhead, and I said that should give us
some perspective, there is a person having a worse day than either of us.
Besides, on the bright side, now I get a bunch of new clothes.
Famous Hat
1 comment:
Good news - I thought two of my three T-shirts from Ireland were in the laundry, but none of them were so they are all safe at my house!
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