Barry - Your ability to express yourself is amazing. Most kids that experience the childhood trauma of poverty have trouble learning to write at all. Its a gift. You should seriously explore the possibility of publishing. Your story would open the eyes of many.

When you said, "I never realized it then & I didn't realize it was the same for the adults too," I began to re-think what my own children went through. My daughter still carries some of those scars. Luckily, we did have hope and that was largely due to student loans and grants, subsidized housing, govt. healthcare, a kind dentist and generous friends.

Today we are all doing well and I try to do what I can for the less fortunate but I know its just a drop in the bucket. Most of my time is spent teaching children to read and write but its difficult to access support for families when you realize that a child lacks the essentials in life. All that is left is hope.

We spend billions of dollars making the lives of others miserable through war, when that money should be spent for healthcare and services to the poor. I believe that if we become strong and prosperous as a nation (I mean all people) it will enable us to give meaningful help to the developing nations. Until then, we have to fight the greed around us and speak out.