George W. Bush’s re-election has riled many so-called liberals to
ascend their soap-boxes and shout to the world the indignities
that the poor and middle class will continue to suffer as his war
politics and lack of social regard and awareness assuredly
characterize the next four years with unknown, yet predictably,
negative repercussions for eons to come. Indeed, there is no
shortage of vocal pundits from the left reminding us everyday of
how dire the situation is and will be for the American Every-Man.
In the past, I have listened and most proudly lent my own liberal
voice to the left mass; regarding doing so as an inherent
attribute, yes duty, of my liberalness. Where has all the yelling
and shouting gotten us? No further, it seems, than W’s shady
economic policies and absolute, undeniable disregard for millions
of hard-working Americans.
Make no mistake - to pilfer the words of the leader of the so-
called free world - American people are in dire straights. There
is no need to re-state the statistics – if you don’t know how
many homeless people there are in America, for example, or have
any idea how many children still go to bed hungry in our great
land, you can very easily find out. My fellow liberals would be
happy to recite the incredibly bleak statistics. It seems knowing
the numbers and being attuned to the statistical bleakness, does
nothing, however, to effect ‘new’ action, much less change.
Moreover, focusing too diligently on the statistics, results in
political chasms widening and fueling the great American need to
prove we are right. If you are a staunch liberal, try telling an
equally staunch conservative that most homeless people are not
mere bums with addictions who deserve their lot in life; your
counterpart will be able to rattle off numerous examples of her
‘truth’, telling you of the 30 year old black drug addict who
tried to steel her wallet; while you will be inclined to shout
over her with your own experience of the young white family who
ended up on the streets because of mounting medical bills. I
realize I am committing a great sin by generalizing political
viewpoints; however my point is this; if all any of us ever does
is shout over each other, the so-called bum will still be an
eyesore and nuisance to the person who regards him as such, while
the young family who is new to the streets stays put in their
humble un-abode.
After embarking upon a personal journey of sorts, thrust upon me
after the untimely death of my dear father a few years back, I
decided to stop my shouting, opting instead to act. Accepting
that I will never convince my neighbors that homeless people have
real and undeserved problems, for example, has freed me to
dedicate myself to face the thousands of homeless people in my
community. In my youth I would have considered it a great and
necessary victory to enlighten my neighbors to the errors of
their ways. Today, however, I understand the inadequacy of such a
victory. After all, I would have considered my job complete when
they rolled to my side, when in reality neither me nor my
neighbor, would have done much of anything to help even a single
homeless person.
Trust me; while we continue to argue our points of reference we
are missing the opportunity to help someone who genuinely needs
it. Whether you want to help, and do so by allowing yourself to
be boxed in by the confines of helping through volunteering or
writing a check to charity; or not, and continue to be blind to
the plight of countless people around you; need increases and one
way or another impacts you and yours. Letting yourself off the
proverbial hook because you volunteer at a local soup kitchen
every Thursday night - don’t get me wrong this is a commendable
and needed effort -, or refusing to be hooked to help those who
supposedly should help themselves are equally false and
inadequate approaches. Neither affects the real, broad-reaching,
societal paradigm shift that is desperately needed for any of our
great social travesties, such as hunger and homelessness, to be
finally understood and significantly diminished. As long as we
insist on both equally stagnant constructs our worse fears come
true.
Arthur I. Blaustein, an incredible human being whom I both admire
and respect, rightfully encourages people to respond to the many
ills in our society by answering the call to community service.
He frequently reminds the choir of the benefits that such service
undoubtedly brings, not only to those you help but to your own
life experience as well. His many predictions of social unease
following Bush’s re-election are even more poignant in these days
following the unveiling of our administration’s latest budget. We
knew the cuts to social programs including health care and food
stamps were coming. Just as I am outraged by the cuts, others are
delighted to see a move toward something that looks like welfare
reform. All the while our outrage and delight fester, there is at
least one hungry child in your back yard who is going to bed not
only with a painfully empty stomach, but freezing cold as well.
Accept or shirk responsibility for that child, his reality is not
changing, and neither is yours.
It is time for Mr. Blaustein, me, and others like or unlike us,
to propel some thinking outside the ‘make a difference’ box.
Trying to force people to answer the call to volunteer in any of
our great non-profit organizations or to open their pocket books
is no where near enough of a demand to fix the societal ills that
haunt and impact all of us regardless of our level of awareness
or lot in life. Americans are volunteering and donating in record
numbers yet many and varied needs outpace those commendable
efforts. So, what is the answer?
First and foremost, educate and find out for yourself who needs
help in your community. While you were writing that check for
Tsunami relief there were people in your community needing help –
you don’t know about them because either you have not gone
looking or you reject readily available statistics. Don’t take
anyone else’s word for it. Acquire your own information through
your own channels (I accept that you may not want to take my word
for it that a great majority of homeless people I work with hold
down full-time jobs); prove yourself and your notions about them
or any other alleged group suffering in your community as right
or wrong.
Once you find and accept that someone whom you agree needs help,
either put yourself in the ‘make a difference’ box – volunteer,
write checks to charity, and you will absolutely make a
difference; or go outside the box – have a conversation with your
boss about what you learned and begin the process of involving
your company in this quest; invite the person/group you want to
help to your school, church, job and ask them to tell you about
their reality – genuinely listening to what they have to say will
enrich your self-education beyond description and will get the
ball rolling in the direction of the real and desperate change we
all agree is needed.
It’s the latter challenge I accepted years ago. Focusing on
Denver’s homeless population in particular, I forced myself to
know their plight. Beyond hunger, shelter, etc I learned
thousands were desperate for some focus on their health. It’s not
what you think – they weren’t looking for free health care – I,
too was surprised. In fact, clinical care was not the most
obvious concern of theirs at all. Quite simply, they wanted
readily available health education and disease prevention
information in the meantime of continued fights and negations
that have come to be synonymous with figuring out the health care
dilemma. Finding a community entity, in this case a responsive
non-profit organization, to listen to my story and vision to make
a difference with this newly discovered and understood problem,
proved a lot less challenging than I first believed. Two plus
years later, through funding and support of said non-profit, more
than 40,000 contacts have been made with Denver’s homeless during
which they learn critical health information (e.g. taking care of
your feet while living on the streets; paying attention to
nutrition while eating in soup kitchens; preventing frostbite;
and much more).
To my critics, I know – this effort does not end homelessness;
but it has brought light to a problem that before was buried
under our many assumptions of what it is that homeless people
need or want; it has also forced an organization to delve outside
its status quo. Hearing from ‘John’ a 37 year old homeless man
that this was the first winter in his more than 5 on the streets
that he has not dealt with frostbite, and from the non-profit’s
CEO that she had no idea this type of program was not already in
place while wondering what else can be done, is all the proof I
need that this effort indeed makes a difference, and will propel
an even greater one to be made in the future.
Liberal, conservative, or in the middle? It does not matter. We
are all capable of and on some level driven to help others. Make
your efforts count and debunk our status quo.
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