I went to the DTES this morning with my husband, my friend, and her friend. We served hot chocolate to the homeless and not-so-well-off people who showed up.
When it comes to poverty, I think in ways of getting people out of it. I do not think it is best to throw things at impoverished individuals so that we can feel good about the good deeds we have done. If we really care about these individuals, we should give them the skills and opportunities to get themselves out of poverty. For example, a micro-loan in Peru could get an entire family out of poverty by giving them the means to do so, and it also gives them determination because they have the responsibility to pay the loaner back. I have heard of people doing this, and over 90% of micro-loans are paid back, and those who used the loan find themselves in a more encouraging situation. I am very much for fair trade and ethical buying. I do not think it is good to enslave people so that I can buy a $5 t-shirt. But this is a different kind of poverty.
The kind of poverty I saw today is a "fat" poverty. It is a selfish poverty because it needn't be that way. I am somewhat embarrassed of my views of the Canadian impoverished and "impoverished" because I have seen people work their asses off and make in a day what I usually make in an hour. They work hard and struggle to put food on the table and a roof over their heads and clothes on their backs. Our impoverished? When they receive new donations, they sell them. There is such an abundance of food, that if someone knows how to work the system, he can eat 11 times a day. He is free from taxes and yet everything is provided for him. He doesn't have to work and yet he receives a cheque twice a month.
I understand that there are reasons why these people flock to the streets: addictions, mental illness, family troubles, abuse, cycle of poverty etc. and these are all very important and very serious things. Of course they must be dealt with, but it is hard for me, because of who I am, to feel very much for them. I feel more for the person who struggles to live but is restrained by society, than for the person that loses themselves and is sustained by society. Because of my irritation towards the latter class of people, I must expose myself to them more often. With exposure (combined with an open mind) comes understanding, and understanding produces friendship, or at least gets rid of ill-feelings.
It's not that I despise these people, because I don't. I just don't get how they can live the way they do, with teeth rotting out of their mouths, without bathing, throwing garbage on the ground, and not cleaning up after themselves (this is not everyone, but this is some of what I saw today). But then again, I do not understand my own husband who often doesn't clean up after himself, or shut a closet door after he opens it etc. etc. Anyway, I believe that I must expose myself to things that I am not comfortable with. I need to stretch and grow myself. I will not die an old, ignorant woman, who lived only with what pleased her. To what great purpose my learning will serve, only time will tell. Perhaps I will fade away like a small, old star, that no one ever really noticed among the billions in the night sky. Perhaps I will grow into a red giant and supernova, creating a great spectacle in the sky for many to see. Whatever the case, I must always do my best with the few cycles around the sun I have been given. Even if it all amounts to nothing, time will always know I tried.
Image retrieved from: http://www.wallpaperbase.com/wallpapers/space/supernova/supernova_3.jpg
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