The Valpo Core Reader
 

Authors

Cary Hobbs

Document Type

Narrative Essay

Publication Date

1986

Excerpt

The day's heat was stifling, and persistent beads of sweat tickled the back of my neck. The bus, with the man-made wooden floor, jolted my bones with every bump it attempted to conquer on the twisted dirt road. I remembered at that point in time, while my thoughts were being as rattled as my bones, how poor the Burmese people were compared to the standard of living I was brought up in. Their tattered clothes, overworked bodies, and shoeless feet made me feel guilty about discarding an old shirt in the cleaning box. Usually, my old shirt was better than anything these people had. Though their appearance, to me, classified them as poor, unhappy people, I found one thing to be odd in the situation-they were always smiling when they were together. That's something poor people just don't do!

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