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Point of View with Barb
Sumner Burstyn - January 12 2004
True heroes will help beggars through
another day
Letters to the editor are often a source of inspiration. Like the
recent letter to the Herald headlined "Meet a true hero", in which
Rob Roche, of Parnell, told us about his trip to the United States.
He and his wife were concerned by all the beggars intoning their
endless mantra, "got any change". Luckily for Mr Roche, he was advised
by friends that the beggars were not interested in gainful employment
in a country where welfare was "evidently available".
Then, back home, our world traveller was heartened to find a disabled
man selling chocolates, thereby earning his keep. A true hero, Mr
Roche said.
Perhaps, as the letter stated, the disabled man's chocolate sales
were supporting a worthy cause. But I wonder if that was really
what made our writer so satisfied about his local transaction.
Was it, instead, the receipt of something tangible that made this
such a memorable and legitimate exchange for him? Or was it that
under the veneer of selling chocolates Mr Roche felt protected from
the reality that this man was also a beggar.
I wonder if it occurred to Mr Roche that this might not have been
the chocolate seller's first choice? That selling sweets on the
street for spare change is not a real job and was perhaps a last
resort for a man on the margins of a society that rewards the fit
and healthy and discards those less fortunate.
Excuse me Mr Roche, of Parnell, but are you from another planet,
a libertarian world perhaps, fit only for the self-sufficient and
lucky, where people are worthy of your largesse only if they fit
your model of industrious citizenry? And by the way, when did you
last donate your time to a good cause, as you want to believe this
disabled man was doing?
If it's been a while, why is it a virtuous act for the disabled,
with few options but to spend their "spare" time in this manner,
but not you?
I've often wondered about the journey to extreme poverty so evident
in the US. After all, according to the letter-writer's friends,
there's plenty of welfare in America.
Perhaps his friends were so busy they missed the fact that while
over US$1.1 billion ($1.6 billion) is spent each day on the military,
$49 billion ($73 billion) was cut from health care, welfare benefits,
education and other public services two years ago, and a further
$25.7 billion ($38 billion) was cut last year.
With an election coming up, President George W. Bush has just drafted
a budget that will continue to reduce the viability of the poor,
with such stellar moves as further limiting rental assistance vouchers,
and eliminating some job training and employment programmes.
Many commentators portray the struggle for economic justice in
America as class warfare. Activist David Krieger described recently
how more than 40 million Americans are without health insurance,
and with little or no access to basic medical care.
There are tens of millions of Americans without homes, and home
ownership has become an impossible dream for most young Americans,
while the opportunity for a college education is also receding as
the funds provided for education diminish.
If Mr Roche and his friends need further evidence, Barbara Ehrenreich's
bestseller, Nickel and Dimed, On (Not) Getting By in America is
a great place to start. Her book, a classic of undercover reporting,
details the rhetoric surrounding the welfare reform promises that
any job equals a better life, and exposes the myths Americans tell
themselves about the working and non-working poor.
So next time you're in America Mr Roche, may I suggest, if you
can spare the time, you observe a beggar working his corner and
watch who gives money and who doesn't. First, you'll realise that
the poor always seem to have a few spare cents jangling in their
pockets, while the well-off have perfected the art of the blank
stare.
Of course, this is a generalisation, and at any given time, from
your prime spot, you'll see acts of generosity or meanness that
transcend that barrier. But next time maybe you'll ignore your friend's
advice and carry a little loose change in your pocket.
And chocolate or no chocolate, there is always a transaction in
giving to those less advantaged. For your coins you get the opportunity
to reflect for just a moment on what it would be like to walk a
mile in someone else's shoes.
And although there's a small chance your tiny contribution might
be encouraging a lazy lifestyle, it's more likely you've just helped
sustain a fellow human being for another day on this earth.
Mr Roche labelled the disabled chocolate seller a real hero. And
in this one regard he is right. Anyone who scrapes by however he
can, when he is disabled from participating in the capitalist dream,
is a hero. The real truth here is that beggars are not choosers,
and there but for the grace of God go all of us.
ENDS
© Barbara Sumner Burstyn, 2003
Send your comments to:
Barbara Sumner
Burstyn.
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