Food for Thought

About 10 or 15 years ago there was a fad in N'awlins. Preteen kids would hang out at streetcorners near local housing projects and clean windshields of cars stopped at red lights. A tip was expected. You can imagine how this was initially considered cute, but rapidly got old. Drivers learned to leave extra space between themselves and the cars in front, so they could pull up an extra foot or so and discourage the young entrepreneurs. I once dealt with a kid who was so persistent I had to spray him with the windshield washers to make go away. Eventually the cops cracked down on this "business" and the kids went away, back to the housing projects from which they came.

I realized yesterday that these kids would be in their mid-20's by now, if they are still alive. One wonders how much of that entrepreneurial spirit was rechanneled into the drug trade with it's attendant high mortality.

I don't know where I'm going with this. Thoughts?