For many on this forum it might seem a simple and painfully evident point; but when I read this personal account, in a post at Reddit.com, from someone who encountered a woman with a son who have become homeless because the disability checks inexplicably stopped coming, out in the rain and hungry, I felt ashamed.
It brought tears to my eyes, because I have plenty to eat and a roof over my head. And more.
As the author chose to title the account, If a society is judged on how it treats its poor, we would be at the bottom.
Here it is. :
I made it just before their 2 AM close. It was drizzling as I rolled down my window to speak into the Wendy's drive-through microphone. The cold stung sharply as it rushed into the car. I placed my order and pulled up to the cashier window. I cranked up the heat as I was handed my food. As the cashier was counting my change, he inquired about about a homeless lady that had apparently been pestering people ordering food for money and a ride. "I spooked her off a bit ago, but them folks always come back," he ranted. I grabbed my change and pulled away with my hot meal. As I was driving through an empty supermarket parking lot adjacent to the restaurant, I noticed a black lady running towards my car flailing her arms. It was raining hard now and there wasn't another car in sight. I was about to speed away, but I hesitated as I saw this small boy practically in tow behind her. As she approached the car, I rolled down the window with a slightly annoyed look on my face to hear what she wanted. "I just need a ride a few miles down the road," she said in desperate almost crying voice. She was old, completely drenched, and her boy was shivering in the cold night. "I guess", I said. She exhaled with a loud sigh of relief as she buckled up her boy in the back seat of my car. She got in and immediately huddled close to the blasting hot air coming from my air vent. "Lord bless you," she said.
As we were driving, I noticed her son completely transfixed on my bag of hot food. "Hey", I said. "You can go ahead and have that food." An expression of sheer joy appeared on the boys face and he hastily grabbed the bag of food. He scarfed down the meal seemingly in an instant as his mother thanked me profusely. I was proud of myself. "My landlord kicked me out a week ago when the government stopped sending me my disability checks," she muttered as we continued down the road. "I have congenital heart failure, and can't work". "Thats awful," I said. I inquired as to why the government stopped sending her money, and she said she didn't know...
I can't quite decipher Reddit.com's copyright policy, so I am simply truncating this so that you can read this rest here.
Time is precious, yes, and I think this will be worth yours.
[ postscript: was the author taken in ? Consider: that very underlying perspective has been heavily influenced by conservative narratives which assert that the visible poor, at least those who might ask for assistance from more affluent Americans, tend to be on the make. Ronald Reagan ascended to the presidency, in 1980, based in part on tales of "welfare queens" cleaning up from the public dole. However, in decades since the American poor have only grown poorer and the middle class has begun to collapse. Homelessness is endemic, and several hundred thousand homeless students somehow manage, day by day, currently, to attend American public schools. ]