"Amazing Grace"

This short piece called "Amazing Grace" by Jonathan Kozol is very powerful. It gives us, as people not living in as bad of conditions as these people, a better look at the way low income people have to live. We all have some knowledge, from different sources, that places like the Bronx are filled with poor people that live in terrible circumstances. If you really take the time to learn about their circumstances it makes you feel grateful for what you have and appreciative. There is so much information in this piece that is very shocking. I really enjoyed reading this and learning a little bit more about this topic.

1. The first quote that really stood out to me was, "In 1991, the median household income of the area, according to the New York Times, was $7,600." I know that this was over twenty years ago and money was a little different back then but supporting a family on seven thousand six hundred dollars is rediculous. When food, clothing and everything else comes into play that is almost nothing.

2. The second quote that had an impact on me was one where a father is talking about how he goes to sleep freezing on a December night with his family. "You cover up... and hope that you wake up the next morning. " "Says a father of four children, one of them an infant one month old, as they prepare to climb into their sleeping bags in hats and coats on a December night." That is really unimaginable that people have to live like this. Especially with a one month old. Babies are so fragile and sleeping in freezing weather is not something they require at their first months in the world.

3. The final quote that really tugged at my heart was when the little boy Cliffe takes the man to the park and looks up at the bears in the tree. My first thought when this was introduced was that little kids must have been playing around and got the stuffed animal bear stuck in the tree. Then when Cliffe says "I say a boy shot right over there" I was very surprised. I can't even imagine witnessing something like that at the age of seven years old. I just don't know how some people that live in places like this are able to ever smile again. But they do.