We have seen the force of Occupy Wall Street dwindle over the past months since the country has swung into Election Mode. However, that does not diminish it’s initial impact. It has had a rippling effect across the nation, sending folks into a tailspin. Although the Occupy Wall Street movement has been all over the news, in the Midwest where I reside, many do not even understand why the masses chose to protest to begin with. So, I would like to share with you some of the thoughts and experiences this movement has brought to my personal world.

My boyfriend was working in New York City while the protests were in full swing, and he experienced first hand the effects of the Occupy Wall Street protests. One afternoon, I got a phone call from him telling me a man on the subway put his hand inside my boyfriend’s front pocket and stole his $104 monthly metro card and a $20 bill. This was not done in the old fashioned, casual bump into you kind of way. It was done very openly. My boyfriend said that he had tried to hold the thief’s hand and keep him there with the help of another passenger, but the thief got away. The thief fortunately did not manage to take his iPhone or iPod. This is the first time in the 30 years my boyfriend has lived in New York that this has happened to him, contrary to what most folks here in the Midwest might imagine. Our friends here were horrified when I told them what happened… frightened, like the thief had stolen our life savings or had clubbed him with a Louisville Slugger.

For them it was about the stuff, the money, that was the violation. The way I see it, it is not about the items that were taken, or even the act of theft itself. The metro card was purchased with a credit card and can be replaced, and the money was a minimal amount. It is the WAY it was taken, in a much more frantic manner. As the economy continues to go all topsy turvy, people, especially in high-priced and larger cities, are becoming more and more desperate. My boyfriend is a big guy…6’2″, broad shoulders…someone who does not get messed with. He looks like a guy who would surely fight back, so folks leave him alone. Not this particular criminal. Without thought or care, he openly robbed my boyfriend. Someone who, in my mind, had been safe from all that. And this frightens me. I felt unsure about his safety there and the security of his belongings. And I worried for those who do not have my boyfriend’s advantage of size and intimidation. It was after the robbery that I began to pay attention to what people around me were saying about Occupy Wall Street. What I observed and heard was quite interesting.

From those observations, I do not feel that many outside the experience of a larger city are exposed to a fair and accurate picture of what is happening. With Fox News being the top place for citizens to get their information in my neck of the woods, I’m not surprised. Case in point, a few weeks ago my manager at work overheard a table of professional looking, business type people say, “I just don’t understand what all those people in NYC are protesting about…” and then go back to eating their overpriced food.

I wanted to shake them and say, “Well….let me seeeeeeeee…..most of the jobs available in NYC now pay only minimum wage and are being fought over by people who would have, just a few years ago, never dreamed of applying for. Housing, food costs, public transportation costs and utilities are through the roof, with another MTA increase planned for the spring, bringing a SINGLE subway ride even closer to $3. Public assistance is impossibly hard to get and/or keep due to tons of red tape and overflooding of the system…I know because we tried to get it.  But you guys go right ahead and throw away half of your meal and keep on living in made-up land.”

But as they say, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. People will only listen if they are willing. I have experienced life in both big and small cities, having just moved back to middle America from the Big Apple. It was bad when we left. Worse now. Something has got to give, and soon.

I just hope that as we forge ahead to the next election, that all parties can come together to resolve these problems before they get even more out of hand. In 2012, we need to focus on closing the widening gap between the Haves and the Have Nots.

Thanks for listening!