All That You Can’t Be

America is a wonderful and just place to be if you’re not: an unwanted child; uninsured; a union worker; a deserted mom; an alone, old person; a middle-class taxpayer; a crack baby; a woman on the job-ladder; a farm laborer; mentally ill; redlined; lesbian or homosexual; a minimum-wage worker; a dehumanized young father; chronically ill; a battered spouse; a damaged veteran; a part-time worker looking for a full-time job; a rape or incest victim; homeless; an unemployed family-man; an abandoned teen; an abused child; an addict; unneeded; an AIDS sufferer; a recent college grad; ugly; fat; a dark-skinned Any-Hyphenated-American; a Rodney King; or a Reginald Denny. Looks like we’ve still got a lot of work to do.

BERTHA L. SMITH, Fountain Valley