POVERTY IN AMERICA

POVERTY IN AMERICA


People standing on street corners with a cardboard sign, proclaiming their homelessness and announcing that “anything will help” seek to entice the motorist who stops for the traffic light to part with a dollar or more, is now a common and pathetic sight. Normally the last two words on the crudely written tablet are “'God Bless”.
This is merely one example of poverty in America. The residents of the Ninth Ward in New Orleans, who were also living in poverty were generally out of the public view (and off our conscience)
until Hurricane Katrina revealed their plight.
Those of us who remember the years of the Great Depression can recall numerous families struggling to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. Since so many Americans were among the jobless, those who were also unemployed did not feel isolated from their community. Nearly everyone was suffering a similar challenge.
Then there were also the small family farms which produced just barely enough income to buy essentials and pay the taxes. These farm families utilized the labor of each family member from young children to grand-parents. They built their own homes, cut firewood for heat and produced the food for household consumption. Life on these small farms is described by the observation “Man works from sun to sun but a woman's work is never done”. Their children didn't know they were “poor” until they were “grown-ups”.
This endemic poverty during the Great Depression is different from that which exists today in “prosperous” America. There are, however, common strains other than the obvious lack of money. In both eras it is the minorities who suffer the most. They are the ones who generally are lacking in education and accept work which does not require special skills. When an economic downturn happens it is these jobs which are the first to be terminated.
Americans who suffer from mental illness from drug and alcohol abuse are another segment of those who live in poverty. This is often viewed as a disease of choice. That is an unfortunate simplification, because the root causes are often war related as a result of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The allure of drugs and alcohol is also strong with young men who have boundless energy but are unemployed. Once the drug habit or alcohol abuse becomes the pattern of life, mental illness is not far behind. Then it becomes more and more difficult to stay employed even when jobs are plentiful.
Even if we could suddenly wipe out poverty in America, we're only one relatively small portion of the global population. The “unwashed multitudes” who are dreaming of a better life as immigrants to the US are yet another aspect of how poverty is impacting our society.
As the late Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. said in his speech in Memphis one day before the fatal bullet struck, “I have been to the mountain top and have seen the promised land”. The courage and determination of Dr. King is an example and encouragement to all of us that the human spirit can overcome poverty. For Americans it behooves each of us to proceed with the dedication exemplified by Martin Luther King to fulfill the pledge “One nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all”.

Richard Todd Snoqualmie WA 4/6/08