America's sweethearts
Someone challenged me this week. In the midst of a discussion about my opinion that Americans need to learn to live simpler lives and be more generous to their neighbors and their community, someone asked me - pointedly - if I had donated my personal money, shared my personal wealth, toward emergency funds for victims of Hurricaine Katrina.
No, I said. I haven't.
It's interesting how a natural disaster unites our citizens across class boundaries unlike any other force (except, perhaps, terrorism). There are more than 38 million poor citizens in this country, and many more working class people who barely scrape by. Every day, the poor citizens of this country send their children to underfunded schools, live in blighted neighborhoods, subsist without health insurance and live in fear of sickness or injury. Poor children in America are exposed to lead contaminated soil and paint, suffer from malnourishment, inadequate health care, and various other conditions that may affect their development and certainly affect their quality of life.
There is an overarching notion that poor folks in America have clearly done something wrong. Or they don't work hard. Or they don't care to work. Or they are stupid.
All of which are wrong and harmful.
It amazes me that no one pays any mind (or charity) to the people who need it every day. A hurricaine wipes out an entire city and suddenly the supposedly undeserving poor deserve help. I don't dispute that the evacuees of New Orleans and everyone who has suffered loss along the Gulf coast deserve huge amounts of relief and funding to rebuild their lives. I think our government has done a fantastically awful job thus far and I fear that the bureaucracy involved with disbursements will leave many people sorely at a loss.
I just find it curious that, suddenly, the same people who most of this country would have gladly forgotten just a few weeks ago, are now Americas sweethearts.
They need to be our sweethearts every day. Not just for these few short weeks before the media circus exits and Bush moves back onto his ranch and people go back to thinking along the lines of Barbara Bush, who stated that most of the victims "were, you know, underprivileged anyway, so this--this is working very well for them."
No, I have not donated to the relief efforts. I give of my time and have dedicated my career on an everyday basis to serving those whom the rest of the country neglects to recognize under everyday circumstances. And that is more than a $25 donation could ever do.
No, I said. I haven't.
It's interesting how a natural disaster unites our citizens across class boundaries unlike any other force (except, perhaps, terrorism). There are more than 38 million poor citizens in this country, and many more working class people who barely scrape by. Every day, the poor citizens of this country send their children to underfunded schools, live in blighted neighborhoods, subsist without health insurance and live in fear of sickness or injury. Poor children in America are exposed to lead contaminated soil and paint, suffer from malnourishment, inadequate health care, and various other conditions that may affect their development and certainly affect their quality of life.
There is an overarching notion that poor folks in America have clearly done something wrong. Or they don't work hard. Or they don't care to work. Or they are stupid.
All of which are wrong and harmful.
It amazes me that no one pays any mind (or charity) to the people who need it every day. A hurricaine wipes out an entire city and suddenly the supposedly undeserving poor deserve help. I don't dispute that the evacuees of New Orleans and everyone who has suffered loss along the Gulf coast deserve huge amounts of relief and funding to rebuild their lives. I think our government has done a fantastically awful job thus far and I fear that the bureaucracy involved with disbursements will leave many people sorely at a loss.
I just find it curious that, suddenly, the same people who most of this country would have gladly forgotten just a few weeks ago, are now Americas sweethearts.
They need to be our sweethearts every day. Not just for these few short weeks before the media circus exits and Bush moves back onto his ranch and people go back to thinking along the lines of Barbara Bush, who stated that most of the victims "were, you know, underprivileged anyway, so this--this is working very well for them."
No, I have not donated to the relief efforts. I give of my time and have dedicated my career on an everyday basis to serving those whom the rest of the country neglects to recognize under everyday circumstances. And that is more than a $25 donation could ever do.
posted by Jackie at 7:37 PM
1 Comments:
I agree. There's no litmus test that says you have to donate your own money to charity for hurricane relief before you can talk about this issue. And unfortunately, charity also has the effect of letting some people think they're off the hook, that now that they've given their money, they can go back to voting for Republican politicians who say they'll lower their taxes (whether they will or not depends on whether you're middle class or wealthy) and in general not worrying about the issue the next time they have to open their wallets.
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