Homeless in America

Posted by john tosney on May 21, 2012 in Telegram Past News

Who are those people, the ones who lie in the shadows? The ones who freeze in the winter and starve in the nights, while we sleep, fed good food and comfortable in our warm homes?  While we worry about bills and work, school and fitness, others worry about warmth, protection and survival. I sometimes take time to notice them and I feel blind empathy. I know they have it a lot worse off then me but I have no idea what it is they have gone through. I guess the stereotype is that they are all crazy bums and can’t be helped. The truth is who wouldn’t go a little crazy out there? They must have seemed like normal, average Americans at some point in their lives but I can only imagine that if the average person had to go through the the things they have, there would have some lasting effects on us as well. I’m sure there’s no great solution to helping them. In our country, our capitalist mind provides no hope to helping these people get off the street and working. Something needs to be done by the ones who share what they have with those who have nothing. I’m not saying we should enable this certain group of Americans by sedating them with crumbs and coins but actually putting in an effort and doing all that you really can. If a girl can grow up knowing the rough streets and later being able to graduate from Harvard how can anyone tell people like her she is lost and without hope? If you can do something would you be willing to do it in the name of common good, and kindness? Would you be willing to share from one individual to another? Wealth, power, and class all aside, we are all are the same and have natural rights. We have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This is the creed of freedom and liberty, and maybe if we could learn in this day and age what means to be a 21st century society we would evolve to have a more compassionate mind set.