Slog

This Wednesday afternoon, I was at the Seattle Center, working on another story, but there were a bunch of kids and parents milling around on the grass. There were booths teaching lessons in “financial literacy” for kids—how to save, how to budget, that charitable donations are good. Moonjar was there. And Jumpstart.

The most popular station, by far, was “Financial Windfall,” a clear box the size of a telephone booth filled with real money and a fan. Kids got in, the fan turned on, blowing the bills everywhere, and they grabbed what they could. And kept what they grabbed. One volunteer said that that morning, the booth started with $2,500. I passed a clutch of little kids on the grass, counting out their stack: “fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight…”

The saddest part—even sadder than me being kind of broke that day and envying the seven-year-olds and their stacks in the grass, even sadder than the hobos milling around—was a father who obviously cared about the financial windfall more than his kids did. He kept pushing them through the crowd, saying, “We’ve got to stay focused, team! Let’s go get some money!”

They looked embarrassed. I was embarrassed for them.

What a way to commemorate the launching of the Washington quarter.