Hello; I do get the point about a smart phone. I can afford one but do not. I have a trac phone and pay $20 every 90 days. I have poor neighbors and they always have phones as do their kids. Smart phones seem a luxury and not something folks in dire straights ought to have. People with smart phones tell me they pay hundreds for the phone and a monthly fee. Does seem out of place in the caravan but I do not know the story.
Hello; A smart phone in a caravan of people who are supposed to be in poverty does stand out. With more thought I still must figure there are a lot of others who are truly poor and needy in the caravan. So if a few in the caravan are plants from the drug cartels or some other organization that should still leave a lot who are truly needy.
If we are talking about my "bomb shelter" scenario the question remains of what the world intends to do about these masses of the needy. I see folks around here with signs asking for various forms of help. One clue I look for is cigaretts. If they have smokes then I suspect a low level scam. My second wife had a brother who tried such scams. He once would park his car on the side of a road with the hood up. When people stopped to help he said he was out of gas. It worked for a while but he tried the scam too many times in the same area. So there may be clinkers in the caravan but also a lot of truly needy.
I have my own ideas as to why so many truly needy do exist but that can be a different discussion. What to do about them? I see this as a crisis that does not have much chance of a good outcome.
We can decide to share and sooner than later all will be in much the same situation of not having enough to live on.
Those of us who are lucky enough to have what we need to live can decide to keep such for ourselves only.
I do not see a realistic third choice.
