Ashleigh

**This is a post from 2009 but it is still very pertinent in 2011.**

As advertised on my profile information, I work at a music store. Today, I had to resist the urge to give one of my customers a hug. She was a mother of two, black, and looked just so drained. She put the instrument up on the case and said that she wanted to return it. So, according to my training, I asked her if her child had decided to quit playing trumpet. She looked at the ground and said that no, she had lost her job and couldn’t afford to pay to rent anymore. I talked with her for about twenty minutes or so about how the economy was just sucking people dry. We delved into how the feeling of callous apathy permeated the American minds, leaving those who needed compassion the most left out in the cold. I gave her the website to UNC’s HR department so that she might find a job there and suggested a couple places to go to. She left a little happier and told me thank you for my kindness and understanding.

Capitalism: the accumulation of wealth motivated by the desire for profit (“profits are the money you make without working,” from “The Sword and the Dollar” by Parenti, pg. 8); the capitalist seeks to gain increasing amounts of profit ...