Today's blog post was written by a guest writer, Michael Higginbotham. Mr. Higginbotham is a Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program researcher, psychologist, and specializes in the subjects of Autism.
So today while navigating through the many superfluous comments about nothing on my social media, I came across one that really disturbed me. I have seen many comments similar to this, but this time it just felt like I have heard enough about how the poor, the homeless, those at the level of poverty in this country just need to go and get a job.
Get a job…interesting solution to a far more complex issue. When I spoke out about this, I was told about all of the things that have helped to contribute to the status of some of our societies people. Interestingly enough, none of those items were actually directly related to the person but were all things that were truly out of the direct control of any one individual. What gets me is that even though people are fully aware of the circumstances of our economy, political status, job availability, they still want to blame the individual for the status of homelessness.
Get a job…Being homeless is not as simple as just a person being too lazy to get a job. It is not the complete lack of desire to obtain gainful employment. The comment that was posted was about a little girl wanting to become president and helping all of the homeless by “giving” them all homes. This statement is reminiscent of the statement made, “Well, let them eat cake.” The innocence of this statement is furthered by encouraging this young lady to come over and mow the lawn of a friend and then take the money she was paid to the homeless gentleman in front of the store. After a pause in thinking the logic finally overcomes her, “why doesn’t the homeless man just come and mow your lawn and keep the money himself?” The response to this, “Welcome to the Republican Party.” (The entire sequence is below). Is this really the type of message that we are sharing with our children…with pride no less?
"I was talking to a friend's little girl, and she said she wanted to be President someday.
Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, 'If you were to be the President, what's the first thing you would do?'
She replied, 'I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people.'
'Wow - what a worthy goal.” I told her, 'You don't have to wait until you're President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow the grass, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food or a new house.' She thought that over for a few seconds, 'cause she's only 6.
And while her Mom glared at me, the little girl looked me straight in the eye and asked, 'Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?'
And I said, 'Welcome to the Republican Party.'
Her folks still aren't talking to me..."
As the conversation began to progress concerning this matter, it started to become painfully obvious that there are people out there that feel that all or at the least most of the poor are people who have no desire to work, or change their position in life in any sort of positive way.
Get a job….As I wrapped up my stay at a family homeless shelter, I saw something that will stick with me for the rest of my life. There was a family, obviously living in their car and had been staying at the shelter for some time. I was sitting in the over spill room of a church at 6:00 am on Christmas morning and waiting (admittedly a little impatiently because I had to wait till everyone had evacuated the room before I could go home). As I sat there with head in hand trying to think positively and stop the thoughts of, “when are you going to go? Don’t you realize that it is time to leave?” and I saw a young boy, about 8 or 9 reach into a paper sack that his parents had left for him. Inside were a few unwrapped presents. The boy pulled out a single pair of tightly rolled new underwear; nothing special about them, just your standard boy’s jocky shorts. He unraveled them from their factory folding and he held them up to eye level. He looked them over and then at his mom with an expectant look and with the excitement of a little boy getting his first bicycle he said, “Mom, are these for me? Are they really for me?” His mother looked over with a sense of heaviness in her eyes, and nodded her head. The boy replied with that same excited voice, “Thank you so much mom! Thank you! Thank you!” It was everything I could do not to want to hug this boy. The simplicity of such a thing as underwear and the profound effect it had on his life is almost too much to comprehend.
I want a job…So how do I wrap this up? What can I really say? Is it really callousness that people exhibit when they spit out the words “Get a job” in its various forms, or is it really fear? I think it is really just the fear of seeing that they are only one step away from standing in the same spot as their fellow, but less fortunate human being. I am sure that most people who are capable would love to mow the proverbial lawn and spend that money on housing or food. But what happens when there are no more lawns to mow? What happens when there are no more people to pay the fifty bucks? If you are to take anything away from all of this…remember that poverty does not exist along party lines. The poor can’t pay their bills with Democrats or Republicans. The homeless can’t sleep out of the elements with an elephant or a donkey as their shelter. The poor, the homeless, the less fortunate exist, eat, stay warm sometimes purely on the generosity of others. Sometimes, that generosity comes from you.
If you want to volunteer and make a difference talk to your local food bank, church, or shelter. The place that I volunteered at is called Human Solutions (http://www.humansolutions.org/index.php ). Michael Lodge is the director. You can contact him concerning volunteer opportunities at sfisher@humansolutions.org or call 503-548-0253.
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