We Can Change the World

We Can Change the World

I’ve been in many neighborhoods that were ugly and messy until one time in 1992 when we moved to Florence and Central. When I first saw this area, I felt scared and sad. I especially hated the black gate that made our street seem like a prison. The worst things were the bad neighborhoods, drugs, violence, and homeless people.

On the first day, I could smell the aroma of old garbage mixed with beer and spoiled food. Just one sniff of that disgusting dump made me vomit until I had nothing left to exit. All the streets were dumped with pieces of garbage such as used diapers, used sanitary napkins, and dead rats. The streets were cleaned every day, but at the end of the day they were dirty again. One day while walking down the street, I found a dead dog that was thrown away like trash. I felt sad since that animal once had life and was probably killed for the fun of it.

My new block was a disaster and I never saw any people around. The only people alive there were retired people. The retired people's houses were fortified with metal bars and high tech alarms. They wouldn't come out of their houses. They would just peek through their windows. It made me even more scared. I turned to my father, who had the bright idea to move here, and I begged him: "Dad, please don't move here." He turned around and said, "Honey we will bring sunshine to this place." After the third week of living there, I just hated the place. I saw two gangsters injecting drugs and sniffing a white substance. The next day, I saw about twenty used needles thrown in the alley. Then I turned around and saw two gangsters in back of me with bikes. They followed me, and I walked as fast as I could. My legs seemed like they were two old turtles. My heart was bumping like a D.J., and the blood was racing in my body. I felt like dying right on the spot. While I was in a rush, I saw a police car passing and the gangsters disappeared. I never saw them again. I also witnessed a young mother forcing her children to beg for money, so she could buy drugs. She injected herself while her children were crying for her.