Exploring Poverty and Inequality

A Desperate Act of Vengeance

• A poor, hungry, and ragged man stood at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fourteenth Street, gazing at the carriages carrying the wealthy and fashionable.
• He was envious of their luxurious lifestyle, thinking they were oblivious to the struggles of the poor, with no concern for the future.
• The man's thoughts were consumed by the image of his own children crying for bread around a cold and cheerless hearth.
• Overwhelmed with anger and a desire for revenge, he attacked the crowd with a knife, seeking to harm and avenge.
• The man was arrested and locked up, likely to be forgotten in a mental institution.
• The wealthy and fashionable continued to go about their daily lives, unaware of the struggles of the poor and easily forgetting the desperate acts of those who are suffering.