All Things Considered, I'd Rather Be In...

The quote from the tombstone of W.C. Fields struck me as appropriate today. It was a crappy day, the air was cooler than I'd have liked for my bike ride home from school at 7 p.m. when it was also twilight (watch out for vampires!). It was just one of those days that I wanted to get back in bed by 8 a.m. and stay there all day...but the, the cheery little fellow dressed in white on my right shoulder kept chirping in my ear, "Man up, you wuss. It could be a lot worse."
It only took a cursory look around to see that this was true. I would not want to be a woman in the Congo these days or a young girl trying to get an education in Afghanistan these days...I wouldn't want to be without health care these days...I would not want to be a Muslim in the U.S. these days (sad to say)...I wouldn't want to be looking for a job these days...and I wouldn't want to be looking for a way to get to work in San Salvador these days.
In case you missed it, gangs in the capital city of El Salvador have virtually shut down public transportation for the last three days by threatening the bus companies to stop running or "suffer the consequences"...so people have no public transportatioon now that the colorful buses sit motionless. Of course, there are the pickups that crowd 20 people in the bed and travel 20 miles to get to the city at exorbitant prices, but mostly...nada.
This latest gang-related incident follows one in July on which gang members set a bus on fire and killed 17 passengers. As a result, the government passed a law (about to be signed by the president) making gang affiliation a crime.
If you know nothing about Salvadoran gangs, they are reputed to be among the most violently ruthless in existence, and they make life cheap in this country, especially in L.A. and Washington, D.C. as well as in El Salvador.
After being declared "social extermination groups," Mara 18 and Mara Salvatrucha decided to paralyze the government by halting 80% of all public transportation in the country.
"The government excluded us from participating in the national debate on how to reduce violent crime," noted on gang member whose face was covered to hide his identity.
Really? You have something to say about reducing violent crime in a country of 7 million people that suffers 10 murders a day as a result of things like drug trafficking and extortion...not to mention bus immolations?
Wow!
I will be sure to put on a smile and a jacket tomorrow for my bike ride to school.