1.
“A disabled state employee had phoned Bartholow
to tell her that she was losing her job, was about to lose her home, and needed
help finding transitional housing until
she could find a more affordable place to live… ‘There wasn’t a place to send
her… if we keep food in the refrigerator for three weeks out of the month, we’ve
achieved what we can right now. We force
people to become very, very poor before we are able to help them.’ “– p. 99
I find this situation to be frustrating for three main
reasons:
1.
A DISABLED state employee called for
help.
This individual likely needed
assistance to begin with because she is already disabled. But, she is not to be
belittled for being “lazy” because she was working! She was a contributing
member of society, with a job that she was probably proud of. Which goes to
prove that not all people are looking for the easy way out. Not everyone in impoverished
situations is trying to mooch off other’s success.
2.
She needed help finding transitional housing, but there was no place to send her.
This statement implies that she
had no intention of living off of handouts from others. She simply needed a
temporary living space UNTIL she could locate a more affordable place and (presumably)
a new job. Now, this woman may be a rare breed, as there is always talk of
those who live off of the government and do not attempt to do any sort of work
or look for alternative living options. However, that is clearly not the case
in this situation. Which is what brings about my annoyance with how ‘the system’
functions.
3.
Bartholow was quoted saying, “We force people to become very, very poor
before we are able to help them.”
This statement could not be more
true. Whoever defined the parameters of public aid of any sort was clearly
misinformed. The level of poverty in which people must live in order to get certain
types of help is criminal. In fact, if those in poverty were to act out enough
and get placed in jail, their treatment and help would actually improve! Inmates are given 3 meals a
day, a fairly secure place to sleep, and clothes to wear. According to Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs, jail would be meeting the most basic human needs of breath,
food, water, shelter, clothing, and sleep! No wonder those in poverty feel so
helpless and tend to act out irrationally or lash out with anger. Very few, if
any, of their needs are being met solely because they are not “poor enough”
yet. Well, who determined that?
2.
“…for a culture in which it is acceptable that
98.5 % of new homes built were unaffordable for low-income Americans. Forty
years later, after decades of underinvestments in affordable housing, 1 in 20 Americans,
and 1 in 6 families who rented homes, were living in what the government
described as ‘worst case’ housing situations, with incomes at less than half
the local median income, and having to pay more than half that paltry income
toward housing.” – p. 101
I found this information to be
somewhat shocking. Not that people are living in low-quality houses, but that
98.5% of new houses built were unaffordable for low-income Americans, which is
a fast growing population in our country. As contractors, why bother building
houses that people cannot afford to live in? It is a colossal waste of time,
money, land, and resources altogether. I find myself being drawn to the idea of
building affordable houses for low-income individuals and families to rent or
purchase. Even incorporating a rent-to-own economy for affordable houses. The
Tiny House Movement has also caught my particular attention. Not that everyone
needs to live in a tiny house, but the mindset that that less is more is one that
most Americans do not seem to possess. Just take a minute to look around your
town, and you’ll see what I’m talking about. But if people (i.e. builders,
architect’s, contractors, electricians, plumbers, even billionaire’s) could
take some time to help design/ build/ invest in smaller, more affordable
housing, maybe we could get some people off the streets and into safety. It
would give them ownership of something, which could cascade into encouraging them
to look for a job and get back to doing life with people. http://www.habitat.org/ and https://smallhousesociety.net/ are
just two websites that I came across who may be able to help out with this. I
just have to believe that there is more to life than school, work, making
money, paying bills, and/or climbing the social ladder- just to get to the top
and realize you’re all alone.
3.
“Throughout history, philosophers and political
figures have sought to distinguish between the deserving and the undeserving
poor; or, to put it another way, between those whose poverty is caused by
outside forces and thus merits society’s sympathy and those whose poverty is
the result of poor life decisions, or communal dysfunction, and thus merits our
scorn.” – p. 132
I have a problem
with this paragraph. It is quite insightful, and something that I had not
considered before reading this passage. Nonetheless, it is disheartening and off-kilter.
Who can define poverty by one’s “poor life decisions?” Because what is
considered a poor decision by one may be considered perfectly acceptable by
another. The definition of what is right or wrong must be decided by a common
moral compass; which is to say that people must be in agreement that this
group of things is ‘wrong’ while that group of things is ‘right.’ But
that is not the case in our society or in our world today. Many religions or specific
groupings of people have common beliefs, but it is not unanimous. So do
determine that one person’s poverty merits sympathy while another’s merits
scorn is ludicrous. It can’t be done until we are in agreement, and let’s be
honest with ourselves- that is not going to happen.
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