Why Do We Have These Problems?

Earlier today I responded to a comment Liberal Journal Man made here at Wandering the Ether, and I am having a difficult time moving beyond it. I think it would be accurate to say that the sentiment behind my reply is now devouring the periphery of my thoughts. Part of me yearns to have this question answered, while the rest of me knows it probably never will, because that would require that we (all of us) acknowledge that these problems exist.

It really is the right thing to do. We spend so much of our time and energy (socially) focusing on religion, claiming that without it humanity would have no moral compunction to honor one another, but what I see is a society that hides behind the illusion of ethics while laying claim to the world's largest population of homeless, preventing it's citizens from being healthy. All the while making it extremely costly to seek a higher education.

Is that the goal here? To have as many people as possible homeless, sick, and uneducated?

Education. Health care. Homelessness. In my mind these three issues represent our greatest social challenges as Americans. Or rather, these are the three great taboos that we seem collectively intent on avoiding. There is plenty of discussion, but where is the funding? Where is the reform? Of what value is all the talk, sans the walk? Would anyone mind explaining to me how we can scrounge up the money to pay corporate hit men to kill people, but we feign bankruptcy when it comes time to heal people?

Did you know that according to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, as of 1999 roughly 1 in 4 homeless people in America were veterans?

Did you know that the price of college tuition again rose faster than the inflation rate this year, climbing 6.6 percent at four-year public schools and outstripping increases in financial aid?

Did you know that in 2003 the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the number of Americans without health insurance jumped sharply for the second year in a row, up 2.4 million to 43.6 million, 15.2% of the population?

The reason I mention religion in the original quote, is because so many of us seem intent on using that as a crutch. Most of the Americans who affiliate themselves with a religion believe that in doing so, they are automatically living their lives in accordance with a higher moral principle. Yet these problems still exist within our society, despite the 2001 American Religious Identification Survey revealing that 80% of the U.S. population claims to be Christian.

My Christianity may be a bit rusty these days, but even I am aware that modern American culture doesn't come close to mirroring the world Christ spoke of, and this brings me to the very precipice of the question which currently burdens my thinking. If 80% of America's children claim to be Christian (caring, compassionate, giving, loving, nurturing), WHY DO WE HAVE THESE PROBLEMS?

Image borrowed from Democratic Underground

One Culture's Trash, Another's Treasure

We arrived expecting to spend our morning picking up garbage, and instead, we found treasure. Twice a year Lansing, Michigan sponsors a program called: Adopt-A-River. Those who participate gather in the Impressions Five parking lot bright and early. They are each given a pair of sterile gloves, a large refuse sack, and are assigned a portion of the Red Cedar river that they will then be responsible for cleaning. We were given the area adjacent to Frandor Mall, where campus ends and the city begins.

As we set about gathering trash along the banks, I was amazed at the massive amount of litter that had been deposited. Among the refuse we found a coat, a hat, shoes, shirts, underwear, a set of keys, notebooks, lighters, dishes, a guitar strap, a sack of rotting groceries, several condoms, a diaper, dozens of plastic bags, all manner of broken plastic, glass, metal, and more pint bottles than I could ever begin to count.

After the bag was so full that it took two of us to lift it, we lugged it back to the dumpster, emptied it out, and realizing that it was only 9:15 am, decided to have another go at it. The second time, we opted to leave the river’s edge and dig into some of the thickets, suspicious that they would be full with trash left there by partying students and drunk softball players. Deeper and deeper we trekked, following the trail of litter, and what we found was something amazing.

Tucked in so snug, that if we hadn’t stumbled upon it with our own two (six? ^^) feet we would never have known it was there; was a hobo camp. The two gentlemen sitting there were rather alarmed that we had found them, and later told us that they originally thought we were the police coming to arrest them: a common occurrence for them apparently. Once we explained what we were doing, and why we were there, they lightened up a little, and one of them even helped us pick up the surrounding garbage. Afterwards, we talked for awhile.

“Can dogs” is how they identified themselves. They asked if we knew what that meant, and seemed a bit shocked when we told them we didn’t. ‘That’s someone who survives through dumpster diving,’ they explained. One of the fellows claimed to have his Masters degree in Psychology, and I’ll admit it, I felt like he was putting us on, until he started listing some of the books he has read. The guy was for real. He seemed intent on providing us with a long list of excuses as to why he was living along the bank of a river, and seemed generally embarrassed with himself.

I asked them both if they were happy, to which they reluctantly replied that yes, they were. I did my best to make it clear to them that I understood the need some people have to not participate in society, to not “play the game.” We talked about the state of things in Michigan, the economy, labor, soup kitchens, shelters, religion, philosophy, literature, the war, and so many other topics. We eventually had to shove off to continue picking up litter in the woods, but I am so very grateful we had the opportunity to meet them, and spend some time with them.

Later, my daughter and I had a discussion about stereotypes, and how totally wrong they usually are. We also talked about why it is, that in our society, highly educated individuals are choosing to live out of dumpsters rather than serve as cogs in the machine. This was her first exposure to the homeless, aside from the times that we’ve taken her walking through downtown Chicago after dark, and been swarmed by the pan handlers. These guys were different though, they didn’t seek charity, and I get the impression that had we offered any they would have been offended.

I reminded Sage that in this country we call America, long before the white man came, the people who lived on this land, her ancestors; also lived in temporary structures near the rivers, lakes and streams. Their culture was advanced, their respect for the environment was unmatched, and their spirituality was expansive. Yet, when European settlers came to this continent, they looked down upon the native tribes, equating them to “can dogs” living down by the river. Steadily, the native peoples were pushed to the invisible edge of the Earth, to the breaking point of sanity. Asked to fit in, adapt, assimilate, become white.

How can any of us blame the drifter, the vagabond, the hobo, the wandering minstrels of our day for refusing to conform inside this twisted facsimile of culture? Ask yourselves, what compels you to live as you do? What is the driving force behind your existence? What is your “Masters degree” worth outside of the finite system in which you use it? Are you happy with the life you have lead? What is protecting you from the potential circumstance and/or social epiphany, that would send you to live in a shanty down by the river? Think about how fragile that security blanket really is, and know that you are blessed.