when it's over.

My brother has an apartment in the Mission District, where taquerias are slammed up against trendy Ethiopian restaurants and the homeless sleep in the doorways of expensive boutiques that blast The Postal Service and bump French hip hop from 10 am to 8 pm on weekdays and 11 am to 5 pm on weekends. When we went to go visit him a few weeks ago, I thought about the distribution of wealth - in big American cities, in our nation, and in the world.

What have we been given, the upper middle class? New cars, condominiums, running water, home loans.

And what do we give back? More cars, more condos, we let our water run until the heat runs out of it, we whine and talk on cell phones.

Sadly, I know I'm just a part of this. I'm not a vegetarian or a humanitarian (despite my previous efforts) or a historian. I guess I'm just frustrated is all.