POVERTY AND HOMELESSNESS IN
AMERICA!
(National Center for Children
in Poverty/Hope for the Homeless/Frazer Chronicle)
America, land of the free and the home of the
brave, a country where, if you work hard, keep your nose clean and stick to
business, good things will happen for you and yours. At least that is what I
was taught, at least my generation, I kind of passed that on to my kids, but
the message was never a priority of mine.
I grew up in a smallish town in northern Lower
Michigan, a tourist mecca, in a region where people have been flocking for
generations to enjoy the crystal clear water and to marvel at the majestic view
of the beauty that is the region.
When I was a kid, my sisters and I never really
wanted for anything, except maybe another piece of cake, or an extra slice of
cherry pie. Our family wasn't rich, or well off, my Dad was a carpenter and my
Mother a secretary. Both were cautious, watched their money.....and kind of
planned for a rainy day.....which thankfully never really came.
We were just like thousands of other families in
the region, hard working, God fearing.....probably good Republicans. My Dad was
a Catholic, "not practicing," and my Mother was a Protestant,
"practicing." I guess you could say that the Frazer's were a racially
mixed family, religion wise anyways, and the division did make for some
separation between my folks.
My Dad worked hard, actually was kind of a workaholic,
and my Mother, "a business school graduate," worked at 8:00 A.M. to
5:00 P.M. job for the Grand Traverse School District. My Mother actually was
the Michigan State secretary of the year back in the middle 1970's, and if
there would have been a "secretary's hall of fame," she'd have been a
member.
My Dad was a cracker-jack carpenter, built dozens
of homes around the area and did thousands of repair jobs, and even worked on
the Mackinac Bridge when it was constructed. My Father was a self made man,
with little formal education and only knew one way.....hard work.
Neither would have made it in today's world, what
with the beliefs and education that they had.....and actually that is sad. It
seems each generation passes on to their off-spring a legacy of war,
pestilence, more debt.....and usually a poorer relationship with the "captains
of industry."
WHO SUFFERS?
Everybody suffers from either poverty or homelessness;
absolutely nobody is spared the effects of a homeless person, or family in the
United States. Being homeless or living in poverty is the underbelly of society
in today's world. Nobody escapes the degradation of what has become a primary social
problem.....a problem that is being largely ignored by the everyday
"Joe" on the street, and Washington as well.
All of the people that read this blog have never
experienced the stress and strife that is homelessness; there really have no
first hand understanding of what it means. And sadly, the problem does not discriminate;
it can take white, black, young and old. Few in America are immune from the tentacles
of poverty or homelessness.
Many people in the work-place of America today
are living from paycheck to paycheck, an even larger number are not saving, and
not planning for their retirement, they simply do not have the money. They are
paying the minimum payment on their credit cards, are chronically late on house
and auto payments, have a minimum amount of insurance, and have little or no
time for their families.
We all suffer from poverty and homelessness
because they drag down not only their quality of life, but everybody else’s as
well. Poverty dictates that people use hospital emergency services as if they
were their own personal health care providers. And who pays for those
"unpaid" services, the rest of us.
The homeless and those living in poverty are
really a blight on society, are a problem that most us choose to look away
from, and not deal with. Some people figure that whatever has happened in these
people's lives, has happened because they are lazy, do not want to work, are
looking for a handout, and are people of color.
Sorry to disappoint, but poverty and homelessness
is not a race issue today, these two social problems have largely been spurred
on by the decisions that few of us have any say in. War, economic practices and
work-place procedures are basic culprits.
The real losers in the United States plight of
poverty and homelessness are the children, the innocents, the ones that have
never had a chance at grasping for the gold ring. 1.8 million children go to
sleep without a home each year. One in 50 have a chance to experience
homelessness in their lifetimes.
Children without homes are twice as likely to
experience hunger as other children. Two-thirds worry they won't have enough to
eat, and more than one-third of homeless children are forced to skip meals.
Healthcare for a homeless child is virtually
impossible to get as conditions dictate initial care or follow-up treatment.
Homeless children are twice as likely as their counterparts to have moderate to
severe acute and chronic health problems.
Educating the homeless is an awful task for parents
as well as city, county or state officials, homeless children are more than
twice as likely to have to repeat grades, be suspended or expelled, or they
simply drop out of school. Few homeless or poverty ridden children are
proficient in reading or math.....and less than 25% graduate.
WHO ARE AMERICA'S POOR CHILDREN?
Nearly 16 million American kids live in families
with incomes below the federal poverty level, which is around $24,000 for a
family of 4 today. And this study is flawed, citing the fact that it takes
almost twice the $24,000 for a family of 4 to live comfortably.
America's poor children are saddled with poor and
poverty stricken parents, mostly adults unable to keep a job, or must work for
sub-standard wages.....and today; a sub-standard wage is anything under $15
dollars an hour.
That's right, $31,200 is a sub-standard wage in today’s
society.....now a good conservative, and in many instances liberals would say
that these people need to get a second job, or at the very least a part time
job. I can't argue that thinking, I've been there and done that, but if people
do take a second job, or a part time job, it means that somebody without any
job will find it harder to find "even" one job.
Homelessness is a national tragedy, should be unacceptable,
and should be addressed until it is completely wiped out from America. Poverty
needs to be addressed in the same way, aggressively and with a "no holds
barred attitude. Taskforces in neighborhoods, townships, cities, states and
nationally need to be set up to deal with the problem, with Washington as the
center governing body.
The "if it doesn't affect me, I don't care
attitude" needs to go, the "they don't really want to work" talk
is basically stupid, and needs to stop. There are well over 100 million people
in our country who wonder if their paycheck will last the week, that's almost a
third of the country's population.
You can't tell me that a hundred million people
don't want to work here in America, remember, we were the country that woke
from a depressional slumber in 1941, and became the world's giant of industry.
By sheer numbers of workers, the United States completely retooled itself, and
became a dominate world leader.
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