This city is getting nicer and nicer, he said. Take the area we're in right now. It used to be a bunch of projects. But they tore all that down about 10 years ago, and now there are all these nice bars and restaurants here.
I nodded, but all I could think was, Where did all those displaced people go? I didn't ask. He wouldn't have known. But it's interesting how once you decide to start seeing the poor in our country, your eyes are opened to a whole horrible world that most like to pretend doesn't exist. That man probably didn't even realise he was talking about people's homes. It was just a Bad Area that has now been magically transformed into a Good Area. How wonderful. How bloodless.
Changing subjects slightly.
Interviews are hard because all the talk is about how great the program is for you, how it will give you everything you want, how cushy it is, etc. I'm not denying that comfy things are comfy, but it hits right at the heart of the self-centered mindset of the rich that we are meant to be so on guard against. And I wonder how best to fight that mentality while continuing to aspire to the next step of my career. And I wrestle with how deeply I can enter into this world of having everything I want while still counting it all as scubula.
"More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ."
I have always thought that about north Tulsa. There used to be a bunch of old projects up there. I was only there once or twice after dark, but let me tell you, it was pretty scary.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I've always wondered what happened to those people when the city decided to tear down those old apartments.