Page 92 - It Ends with Us

whi spering whe n I sai d, “Why in the he ck would you wan t to ser ve a countr y

that has al lowed you to end up in thi s kind of situat ion?”
You know what he sai d next, Ellen? His eyes grew sad an d he sai d, “It’s not
thi s countr y’s fau lt my mothe r do esn’t give a shi t ab out me.” The n he reac he d
up an d turned of f my lam p. “Goodn ight , Li ly,” he sai d.
I di dn’t sleep much af ter that . I was too mad. I’m not even sure who I’m
mad at . I just kept thi nking ab out our countr y an d the who le world an d ho w

screwed up it is that people do n’t do more for eac h othe r. I do n’t know whe n
hu man s star ted only looking out for the mselves. May be it’s al way s been thi s
way. It made me wonde r ho w man y people out the re were just like Atlas . It
made me wonde r if the re were othe r kids at our scho ol who might be ho meless.
I go to scho ol ever y day an d internal ly complai n ab out it most of the time,
but I’ve never once tho ught that scho ol might be the only ho me some kids hav e.
It’s the only plac e Atlas can go an d know he ’ll hav e food.

I’ll never be ab le to respect rich people now, knowing the y willingly cho ose to
spend their money on mat erial istic thi ngs rat he r than using it to he lp othe r
people.
No of fense, Ellen. I know you’re rich, but I guess I’m not refer ring to people
like you. I’ve seen al l the stuf f you’ve do ne for othe rs on your sho w an d al l the
char ities you suppor t. Bu t I know the re are a lot of rich people out the re who are

selfish. Hell, the re are even selfish poor people. And selfish middl e-clas s people.
Lo ok at my parents. We aren’t rich, but we cer tai nly aren’t too poor to he lp
othe r people. Yet, I do n’t thi nk my dad has ever do ne an ythi ng for a char ity.
I remember one time we were wal king into a grocer y store an d an old man
was ringing a bell for the Sal vat ion Army. I as ked my dad if we could give hi m
some money an d he told me no, that he works har d for hi s money an d he was n’t
ab out to let me give it aw ay. He sai d it isn’t hi s fau lt that othe r people do n’t

wan t to work. He spent the who le time we were in the grocer y store telling me
ab out ho w people tak e adv an tag e of the government an d until the government
stops he lping tho se people by giving the m han do uts, the problem won’t ever go
aw ay.
Ellen, I believed hi m. That was three year s ag o an d al l thi s time I tho ught
ho meless people were ho meless becau se the y were laz y or dr ug addi cts or just

di dn ’t wan t to work like othe r people. Bu t now I know that ’s not true. Sure,
some of what he sai d was true to an extent, but he was using the worst-cas e
scenar ios. No t ever yone is ho meless becau se the y cho ose to be. The y’re ho meless
becau se the re isn’t enough he lp to go around.