@Rene' Junge

My hat is off to you and your wife.

You tried to make a difference in talking to the youngsters and then the adults.

Yes, you received ridicule, threats and worse of all - BAD/POOR parental responses.

If the parents don't see with their own eyes what is going on around them, then it simply becomes a cyclical situation. I grew up in that environment (south side Chicago in the 60s).

What you two did took courage and sacrifice. You recognized and made the effort to extract yourself for a BETTER environment. Living there in that former environment 'could' have cost you your lives, especially after attempting to help (I almost got shot in the back in Chicago because of refusing to join these gangs of 'youths' looking to 'have fun').

So yes, even though I see a lot of negative comments here, I applaud you for having the courage to try and then leaving.

If one cannot make a difference, one cannot force it on others. And when that happens, it becomes a failed mission and all one can do is, extract (I'm also a former Marine).

If individuals living in a cesspool (yes, I'm using that term, again, b/c I lived in one of them) do not make personal sacrifices to be better, to help create a better future for their children and neighbors - it truly becomes difficult for one to stay in that impoverished environment.

It is sad to see these communities of poverty that continue to go through cycles of poverty. Government has to step in and help, giving more than lip service. Ordinary citizens alone cannot do it, at not without a great deal of community support... Government services HAS to come up with a MUCH more successful scheme to BOOTSTRAP these folks out of poverty and these blighted communities.

Using the term 'trash', well, I'm still somewhat torn and ambivalent on that aspect, even if I've seen and lived amongst: Southern Trash, Urban trash and the many varieties of racial lines portrayed by that term.