i've been reading alot lately. i've been nosing around the internet looking at reports on poverty, homelessness and hunger. i've read blogs, gvt reports, opinions, economic history and forecasts. know what? they're all the same, just worded differently. there is nothing new. there are no innovative ideas. there is no solution being formulated to end it. there is no emerging leader in the fight on those three blights on america. there are no new gvt. programs that are being rolled out. there are no new speeches. there are new buzz words...economic violence, income inequality, disparity, social injustice, socio-economic opportunities, enterprise zones, promise zones and the latest...social mobility. it's all crap. it's all nice words to describe something that's been around since the beginning of this country. it's political volleyball on issues that have been effecting this country and the citizens of this country for every generation. free housing...supportive housing...welfare...snap...medicaid....hunger...poverty....homelessness....they're not new. nothing today that is being tried to end them is new. nothing that the federal gvt is doing to fight these issues is new.
the conditions and struggles of the homeless and those fighting poverty and homelessness aren't new either. the setting may be different. the number of people may be different. the types of people may be different. poverty and homelessness have found its way into the middle classs. the educated and skilled are now fighting what was once the fight of the uneducated and unskilled. the people without disabilities, addictions, or mental illness are now fighting the battle that once was almost solely reserved for the less fortunate. it's now common...more people are aware....and more people are being effected. but the struggle and the emotional and mental stress are the same. the impact is the same....just on a larger scale and to a more diversified group of victims.
the front line warriors aren't new either. the missions and shelters and grass roots organizations are still there. they're still fighting the same battles. they're still operating under a redundant and blown up federal system that is antiquated and stipulates so many rules and regulations that the cost of implementing a true fight against homelessness is so cost cumbersome that the battle is lost before it begins. these people know the answer. they know it's simple. they see successes every day in their field of vision.
listen, seriously....homelessness, poverty and hunger aren't simple issues. but the answer is. reach out....give....and rescue those caught in it. you feed a hungry person. you give a job to someone in poverty. you give a home to someone who is homeless. i know that's very simplistic on the surface of it. but isn't it really that simple? don't over complicate it.
i think it's time the local gvts. and churches and organizations do what they do best....and simply help those in their own community. it truly is simple....and it's not new. we just need to remember.
see you around town