Sara Hawkins produced the following commentary as part of CE's coverage of the 2000 Republican National Convention.
| America, to me, has always seemed a place of freedom and fairness. I was so wrong. |
My most eye-opening experience in America was a tour that showed us homeless and deprived parts of Philadelphia. My life has always been so perfect compared to the lives of those who I saw on the "Reality Tour". The tents filled with the homeless only showed my denial of those who are worse-off then myself. This shocked me and made me understand that life cannot always be about material things. The tour around Kensington upset and disturbed me for the rest of the evening.
Being 16, but always 10 in my heart, I believed in fairies, but one by one they disappeared. I always believed in good things, but for the rest of the evening my imagination was blocked by the sight of the homeless and the young children deprived of nice homes and the comforts I had whilst I was growing-up.
This city was just 10 minutes away from Centre City, Philadelphia a city that almost looks as if it has everything. The tall skyline buildings, the clean streets, and the smart clothes shops This was nothing in comparison to the falling, old housing that these people lived in. The streets were all misused and the shops were converted houses. Sitting in the bus made my own problems that start so small, seem even smaller and unnecessary. It made me feel selfish and out-of-tune with other peoples lives.
In that same evening, I visited the convention centre. The $6 million centre, converted for the politicians, who claim to be providing a service to the public.
America, to me, has always seemed a place of freedom, fairness, and being a place that has so much money and enough food to feed the world. I was so wrong. America, to me, now, is a place of injustice and has so much waste. It has a waste of food, space, and the gift from France needs to be reclaimed and given to a country of fairness, loyalty, and love.
About the author
This article was produced by Sara Hawkins, aged 16, an editor in the Sheffield bureau. It was published on the CE USA website.
