I put a new sticker on my car, replacing all my snotty political dogma with my equally snotty socialist trouble-making dogma. To be honest, I no longer believe that either party is really concerned with the broken of our society. Both are fighting over the middle class and pandering to the super rich. Neither seem to be giving even the most rudimentary lip service to helping the poor or the displaced in this country.
I feel like I'm back in the Reagan 80s, when the President and Edwin Meese claimed that most street people chose their situation and went to soup kitchens because they didn't want to pay for their meals. At the time the Reagan Administration was making these claims, one third of the homeless were estimated to suffer from serious mental illness, another 25-50% had alcohol or drug abuse problems, and most of the rest were jobless or displaced by the gentrification of the inner cities -- the "new poor".
I don't think things have changed much, and I hear the same "get a job" or "giving to the homeless just perpetuates their situation" arguments now, from both predictable and surprising sources. Where does the solution begin? I don't have an answer. Between the sham of faith based initiatives, scandals within groups like the United Way and political indifference to a class of people who, after all, never vote, who is left to make a difference?
I have no idea how to fix the problem. All I know is that while we as communities and as a government are letting the poor and broken of this country fall through the cracks, as individuals we're touched, we feel, and in doing so, we reach out in our big-hearted and inefficient ways and we try to help. Remember the tsunami, or Katrina? Do you remember how feckless the government responses were but how generous the private citizens of this country showed themselves to be?
Imagine for a moment if our elected officials felt those same impulses of humanity and reached out with the full force of the nation to help those among us who don't vote and don't power the engines of commerce. Imagine the things we could do, not just in this country but also in Africa and Asia. Imagine how the people in parts of the world that hate us would feel when their villages began to get electricity and medicine, and American financial institutions began investing in microeconomics, not for their direct gain but in order to shrink the Third World a little. What if we had a New & Improved World Order, the central tenet of which might be "Let's get the whole world's shit together"?
I don't mean to be all John Lennon (or Karl Marx, for that matter) on you tonight. I know that I'm usually concerned with helping one person, one little girl who has a big problem but who also has a lot of people helping her and lifting her up. But the fact is that there are a lot of people out there who have no one, and they have problems that we can barely even comprehend. I've suffered from depression from time to time, and trust me, I know that a lot of you are frankly not always well in the head, bless your nutty little hearts. What if you had no safety margin? What if the next time you stumble, you lose it all?
I'm not sure why I'm writing this. It's cold outside. Maybe that's it. Just think about it, please.
Maybe I'll go help the poor of Plano. Oh, wait. Shit, I think that's us.
once in a while, you share with us what we have known all along, but feel we are busy enough to ignore. you are amazing, and you are right. thank you for this.
ReplyDeletewell done
ReplyDeleteyou touch on a lot of things i've had on my own screwy mind lately
i'm glad now i'm not alone in my thoughts
My husband was told last Monday that he will be laid off effective January 1, and the company cannot afford to pay him a severance package. I've been so worried, and reassessing what is important in life. Although we certainly need his income, we have so much compared to some.
ReplyDeleteWe told our kids that Christmas presents will come when he gets a job, so we may have Christmas in April or May. Yet, how many children will won't get Christmas gifts at all? Every year, we go with our children to buy and wrap gifts for the families in the shelters in our community. This year, even though it will be harder than ever financially, I feel even more compelled to continue this tradition. Yet, honestly, I'm afraid to part with what we have.
When my teenage daughter found out about his job, she began to cry and said, "It often starts with the loss of a job." Any day, it could be any one of us.
Thank you for this post.
I know how lucky we are to have a cushion. I realize every day how fortunate I am that when my baby is born, I will be able to stay home and take care of it. All of this is something I take into consideration every single day of my life because I've been on the other side. I've been evicted and lived on potatoes. I've stolen food and wondered how I would ever find my way.
ReplyDeleteYour friend is doing the best any of us can do right now because unfortunately, you're right. Neither political party cares and it's up to those of us who have the means to help to do what we can.
I saw 20/20 last week. The show focused on giving in America. They interviewed an author who was doing research on the giving practices in America and he found that conservatives outgave liberals even in the more recognized liberal causes like the arts and the environment. He also found that the working poor gave more of what they had than any other group out there. Sioux Falls, SD was the most giving community comparitively. I share this because I think it's not only important to be aware and notice needs and things that need to be changed, but to actually do something about it...like your friend did.
ReplyDeleteThe solutions to what ails the world will never be found in politics, in political parties, or in politicians. As the ads for the Red brand say, "We are the people we have been waiting for."
ReplyDeleteI think you're probably right. Maybe I'm not a socialist after all. Maybe I'm an anarchist. That sounds like more fun anyway.
ReplyDeleteMy wife an I adopted a boy from Haiti. You should see the shit they live in there. You hear nothing on the news about it - the gangs that steal food and medicine being sent there from the U.S (private citizens). My wife after seeing the horrible conditions, asked why don't we (the U.S.) help them and I told her - they have no oil and the skin is too dark. It's true.
ReplyDeleteah..nice post.
ReplyDeletea few of us are having a social justice wedduing this weekend.
you'd fit right in.
It really is so easy to slide into poverty and homelessness.
ReplyDeleteI am so close to it now, that it's horrifying. I have an income of 200 dollars a month, I'm living in my parents spare room (for now).
I'm disabled and my scooter needs a new tire and my wheelchair is falling apart (it's old and heavily used.)
My husband is living an hour away with his parents, trying to find work. He has associate's degrees in engineering (2 , plus other certifications) graduated with honors and still can't find work.
And, we have no vehicle. Mine needs a battery, registration, insurance. His needs registration, insurance, stickers. When you have no money, there's now way to get these things back.
I'm posting anonymous as this is also shameful. I'm ashamed of what is going on but, what can you do?
I'm trying to find my voice and some knowledge in the whole political arena, and I'm in the middle of reading an interesting interview in, none other than Playboy, with Arianna Huffington (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/). She makes a similar point on how leaders should refocus attention on the domestic problems rather than international. I can't recount the ideas as eloquently as she did in her interview, but it is definitely a good read, even for those of us who are late coming in.
ReplyDeletewell here is a thing you could do
ReplyDeletehelp my seventeen year old with her trip to Moshi Tanzania to teach AIDS orphans for eight weeks.
She is volunteering and because her program has no money she is fundraising to get there.
She has a website myspace.com/sendmetotanzania
I am amazed that she wants to save the world at seventeen and it gives me hope that our teenagers aren't spoiled brats playing videogames and listening to Britney Spears without wearing their underwear.
You can follow the link from my blog or go straight to her site.
Donate five bucks and then you can tell everyone you know you have made a difference in the world.
Then tell your own teenagers to think about meaningful travel instead of that trip to Daytona at spring break.
One need only walk the halls of an inner city public school to see the outcome of the apathy that you so eloquently nailed in this post. This apathy breeds anger and violence, promotes promiscuity and hopelessness in the less fortunate population. In my writing classes they write about feeling invisible, and trapped; they're rattling their cages. Aw, hell, you already covered the territory and beautifully.
ReplyDelete