Feed the Children
I was on Beliefnet this morning and in answering a post I realized that the issue of poverty really starts with the cycle of poverty we hear so much about. It is said that nothing about poverty ever changes and in a way that is correct, because we as a society look at people who live in poverty as somehow less than and somehow they brought their own troubles upon themselves by not working and not being productive members of society. It's garbage but still it's out there.
Many times it is because of a lack of education, a lack of nutrition, a lack of a good role model. Adults can usually take care of themselves unless they have gotten tired of trying to figure out how and have given up. Children however are not responsible for their parents sins. But somehow if they live in a poverty stricken neighborhood they pay for it anyway. All over the United States schools are cutting funding for the arts and sports, before school programs and after school programs. Sometimes these programs are the only thing that keeps a child off the street, sometimes an ability and aptitude for music or baseball is the only way out of these neighborhoods. And yet they are always the first to go.
In this new age time we live in, it is important to remember that we are all connected and that a child starving in Chicago is just as important as a child thriving on Long Island. They are our future and they all deserve a chance. That starving child could be the person who writes a book about starvation or finds a cure for cancer. They may end up being the next Michael Jordan and inspire people to move their bodies and be healthier. Or Picasso, or Mozart, or Jay Z. With a good education and a meal they can be anything.
It's time for us to stop looking at taxes as a way to bludgeon politicians and time to request that our money be spent more wisely. Instead of bailing out wealthy banks too big to fail who continue to give their workers huge bonuses they don't deserve for a job well done, we should give the money to our school system and perhaps change the cycle of poverty for one child at a time.
It's a simple, common sense approach that may make the need for social justice and poverty disappear, not completely but perhaps a little bit. Teach the Children well and feed them well what a concept, parents have been doing it forever.
Many times it is because of a lack of education, a lack of nutrition, a lack of a good role model. Adults can usually take care of themselves unless they have gotten tired of trying to figure out how and have given up. Children however are not responsible for their parents sins. But somehow if they live in a poverty stricken neighborhood they pay for it anyway. All over the United States schools are cutting funding for the arts and sports, before school programs and after school programs. Sometimes these programs are the only thing that keeps a child off the street, sometimes an ability and aptitude for music or baseball is the only way out of these neighborhoods. And yet they are always the first to go.
In this new age time we live in, it is important to remember that we are all connected and that a child starving in Chicago is just as important as a child thriving on Long Island. They are our future and they all deserve a chance. That starving child could be the person who writes a book about starvation or finds a cure for cancer. They may end up being the next Michael Jordan and inspire people to move their bodies and be healthier. Or Picasso, or Mozart, or Jay Z. With a good education and a meal they can be anything.
It's time for us to stop looking at taxes as a way to bludgeon politicians and time to request that our money be spent more wisely. Instead of bailing out wealthy banks too big to fail who continue to give their workers huge bonuses they don't deserve for a job well done, we should give the money to our school system and perhaps change the cycle of poverty for one child at a time.
It's a simple, common sense approach that may make the need for social justice and poverty disappear, not completely but perhaps a little bit. Teach the Children well and feed them well what a concept, parents have been doing it forever.
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