posted on July 30, 2002 01:18:59 PM new
Maybe I'm a cynic, a realist, or a Darwinist. Maybe a combination of all three or any number of other descriptives. But I'm not sure that we can do much to change the world - yet at the same time, I try. What's your gut feeling? Are we spitting in the wind when we try to tackle problems of crime, hunger,war, economic inequities?
My father was an FBI agent who said that without the stumblebums of crime, a large part of the population would be unemployed, himself included. One of my sisters works for Child Protective Services. The first week she was on the job she investigated an abandoned infant case. Now she's investigating that once abandoned infant who is charged with a similar crime against her child. I asked her what would make the difference in her cases - education? employment? She doesn't think anything will in most of her cases. She said that her clients, their parents and grandparents all live up and down this particular strip. When they're moved to Section 8 housing in another part of the county, they call a cab and come back to the strip where their friends are. If they aren't educated, who helps their children with their homework or cares if they attend class?
posted on July 30, 2002 02:07:39 PM new
Poverty, which is the root cause of so many social problems will always be here. The problem now is that the gap between rich and poor countries is becoming so wide. If we can meet basic survival needs, food, shelter and health care, then education will help.
But the teachers in South Africa are dying of AIDs also. I was very depressed after reading about the horrific situation there yesterday. Because they cannot afford children and cannot maintain any population control, they are literally killing children.
Some tribes are making the parents kill their own children by banging their heads aganist a tree. When the childred are dead, the parents are killed. Some communities take all the children off the streets and herd them into the forest where they are just left alone to die. Most of them are from 5 to 11 years old.
Population control in Africa is an emergency situation. Of course it's going to take a long time to correct but how can we not try?
You asked about gut feeling. It's my gut feeling that it's shamful that Bush failed to comply with the UN request to help.
posted on July 30, 2002 02:24:22 PM new
I don't think enough attention has been paid to the root of these problems yet saabsister.
Before anything can be solved or managed people have to be given rights to food, clean water and shelter all over the world. People need to feel useful to enjoy life.
People that live in poverty don't feel that way. They take drugs to feel better. They commit crimes to feed themselves. They start wars because they have nothing else to believe in.
Educating the young and setting an example is our biggest hope for change imo.
posted on July 31, 2002 06:05:37 AM new
Yes, I believe we can [and do] make a difference. Maybe not in a grand way individually, but collectively we do.
I've seen young children succeed against horrendous odds. I've seen adults do what it took to get out of poverty and provide a better lifestyle for themselves and their children. It was a value to them. Something to strive for.
You asked, "If they aren't educated, who helps their children with their homework or cares if they attend class?" This is one example of what I mean by it has to be a value to them. A parent need not be educated for education to be a value to them. If it is, they encourage/support/insist their child go to school. When they themselves aren't educated enough to help with the homework, they reach out to find the needed help. I can't tell you the number of teachers I've run across who are more than willing to go that extra distance to help a child who shows an interest. There are many resources already available for un-educated parents to find help for their children, when they cannot give it directly.
I've know a huge number of people who give their time, money and physical help to the problem areas they feel most drawn to.
posted on July 31, 2002 07:06:31 AM new
Helen, you may remember Leon Dash's story of Rosa Lee Cunningham. Dash won a Pulitzer Prize for his Washington Post series chronicling Cunningham's life. It's a long story for which he was bashed by many members of the community when it first apeared. But the story shows the odds of one family escaping poverty and drugs.
posted on July 31, 2002 11:04:03 AM new
saabsister - Thank you for posting the link to that series. A very interesting read. I can understand why Dash's series won a Pulitzer Prize and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. A remarkable series.
posted on July 31, 2002 12:45:08 PM new
Thanks for the link, saabsister. I remember reading that story! I don't believe that I could imagine a worst case scenario, can you? Rosa was a valiant lady who did the best that she could with what she had to work with and that was not much. Few women, born into that kind of poverty, a single parent, illiterate and critically ill with eight children to raise could do any better.
It certainly points out the need for welfare and educational reform!
