Quote:
Originally Posted by RANDY P
Is hanging with the Kardashians and the other shiny people worth overpaying and suffering with administrative incompetence and huge fees?
We're about to find out!
rjp
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Let me ask you something, do you like where you live? If so, why would you feel such a need to talk schit about Los Angeles, particularly while we're in the middle of the worst disaster this place has ever seen? It's kind of pathological...I'm no shrink but it seems like you and a few others have a real complex about the place you live. You know that it kind of sucks, it may be cheaper than the better places but it's what you can afford. I get it. But at least show a thimble full of respect for people suffering unimaginable loss even if it's in a place that you envy and despise.
I love where I live. I didn't think that it was possible to love it anymore but since the fires, I do. It's a place filled with the absolute best people on earth, from everywhere else on earth. Adventurous risk takers, every last one of them...at least all of the ones who came from somewhere else. Are there bad people? Of course, it's a county of 10M people. But the good people absolutely drown them out. The spirit of volunteerism and giving I've seen in the last 2 weeks has brought me to tears more than once, nearly everyone wants to help and give to those who have lost.
We don't care if they are rich people or poor, who they voted for, there is no vetting process for who gets aid. My buddy is the national marketing director for a very hot athletic shoe company, (On Running), we have had pop-ups this last week where anyone can come and get free shoes and a track suit. Since the shoes retail for up to $180, (I have several pairs), I asked him, "do you think that you need some kind of firewall to make sure that the people coming are really fire victims?" He replied that he doesn't care. When we run out, he will go to the warehouse and get more.
You can multiply that story times 1000, at least. I wrote earlier about my friend's cafe that has been making hundreds of breakfast burritos for fire fighters and cops in the fire zone since the first night. They have converted a big part of the cafe to a distribution center for food from their own kitchen as well as World Central Kitchen and volunteer drivers such as myself are bringing it wherever it needs to go.
Another close friend who owns a couple of bars in Hollywood has completely converted the performance space at one of them into a clothing drop-off space and his kids have been working 12+ hours a day sorting through them and making packages for families who email them their specific needs, such as 12 year old boy/ten year old girl/Mom/Dad with sizes, etc.
What I haven't seen is one ounce of self pity from people who have lost everything, just sadness and a will to get through it. Amazing strength. They interviewed a guy on local news who lost everything but the clothes on his family's backs and he was holding strong. He mentioned that his son was a newly minted Marine flying back from North Carolina to help...that gives you and idea of what kind of people we are talking about. Kardashians? I've never heard anyone even mention them here, (they are kind of a local embarrassment), sounds like they are popular in the heartland, though.
I see nothing but love and generosity here. I love this place and the people in it. The best decision I ever made was moving here, a long time ago. I drive Uber on weekends and worked yesterday, I love doing it most of the time because of the people I meet from everywhere on earth. I gave a ride to a teenager in her private school uniform yesterday, rich black girl if I'm making assumptions. We have a lot of them here, as well as every other type of person on earth. She was very nice and conversational. We talked about the fires, the air quality, the volunteerism, all of that. I mentioned that people on the internet from other parts of the country were talking **** about LA in the midst of this disaster. She replied with shock, "they are?!" I said yes, quite a bit.
She replied, "that's strange. Everyone I know loves it here." Me too, kid. Me too.
