In a recent letter to the editor, a Florence resident wrote about “giving serious consideration to becoming a homeless drug addict” and posited that this would improve her quality of life over the rest of us “hard-working, taxpaying homeowner(s) in Northampton.”
This attempt at some form of humor fell rather flat. Addiction and homelessness are complicated issues with which most people have had neither first-hand experience nor contact.
While I understand the point of the letter (taxpaying, fixed income homeowner here), a less demeaning analogy would have been more appropriate.
S. B. Bouche
Florence