Well, I read it and now I have a headache
...and heartburn.
Of course, the poor are poor because they are unworthy. Why are they unworthy? Because they're poor.
A junkie in need of a fix is rude to people he has never seen before when he wakes up in a place where he's forceably confined??? SHOCKING!
Believe it or not, when someone is put in the hospital against his will and is kept there against his will, even if they are saving his life, he has every right not to behave in a gracious manner.
Just one heartbreaker from this piece:
"Who's the father?"
It was her violent ex-boyfriend, of course.
"Did he rape you, then?"
"No."
"So you agreed to have sex with him?"
"I was drunk; there was no love in it. This baby is like a bolt out of the blue: I don't know how it happened."
Listen with a humane ear, and an understanding of what it's like to live in an abusive relationship. He beats her, and she's drunk. He beats her because it's her fault and she's drunk because it's her fault, and she had sex with him with no love in it because it's her fault. Everything is her fault. The boyfriend tells her that when he beats her, the doctor tells her that when he dismisses her, and Mr. Dalrymple tells her that when he writes about her with such contempt, though fortunately she will probably never read the piece. You know what? Everything about this relationship is a rape, including the sex. But for anyone who's been told long enough that they're just rotten and worthless, it's as much as she deserves in her own mind. Has anyone bothered to tell her otherwise, every day, for any extended period of time?
You can't just ride in, fix something, and then leave. Even software companies understand that. That's why they have customer support.
But people who have years of personal neglect going for them, starting from childhood, are just given stuff with no support and no contact, except in emergency, and sent on their way.
I'm glad Mr. Dalrymple can be so smug. You can only change lives if you become a part of them. Every damn day.