As high school seniors, we are supposed to be prepared to go out into the
world, and put into practice what we have learned from our families, teachers and
experiences. One of these values is the duty to develop a social conscience and
improve the prevailing imperfections in our society such as poverty. Poverty
narrows people’s possibilities to be part of the middle class, have a pleasant life
and makes it harder for them to do well in life. But poverty becomes a more serious
affair when it makes life a daily struggle to survive, by limiting the food on people’s
tables, due to the lack of means. In this paper I am going to talk about poverty in
America and how it leads to hunger and other issues. I will also explain what has
been done by the government to ameliorate the problem and last but not least, my
opinion on what we should do to make a difference on the lives of many people, and
make a better society.
The Problem
We live in one of the wealthiest nations on Earth, yet poverty haunts our
society. It seems only natural to think that in our times, lack of food should not be an
issue. However, we live in a world in which no matter how much food there is in the
world, it is just a matter of whether you have the money to buy it or not. And as a
result of the recent economic collapse, many Americans have been fired from their
jobs, lost their homes, businesses and countless misfortunes that pretty much left
them penniless. In the following passage Pam Fessler, a correspondent on NPR’s
Washington desk, describes the situation: “More than 50 million Americans lived in
households that had difficulties getting enough to eat at least at some point during
2009. That includes 17 million children, and at least a half-million of those children
faced the direst conditions. They had inadequate diets, or even missed
meals, because their families didn't have enough money for food “ (Fessler).
If we consider the fact that our population is approximately 300 million, 50
million is an alarming number. An ominous report was also published by the Census
Bureau, Erik Eckholm, a reporter for the New York Times explains “The percentage
of Americans struggling below the poverty line in 2009 was the highest it has been
in 15 years...aid groups said the increase appeared to be continuing this year”
(Eckholm). It is clear that poverty has always been there no matter what, but
clearly downturns in the economy exacerbate the state of penury.
There are several causes for poverty but one of the factors that probably
contribute the most is the widening gap between rich and poor. Some
argue income inequality is necessary so that people strive for excellence in an
attempt to make it to the top, but the gap should not be as wide as it currently is.
According to an article by Marcia Clemmitt, for the CQ Press “The top 1 percent of
income households earned about 20 percent of the national total income in 2005,
the average income of such earners increased by $102,000 after adjusting for
inflation. By contrast the average income of the bottom 90 percent rose by $25
(Clemmitt). This means the rich are thriving while the middle and lower classes are
not going anywhere. Some insist there is nothing wrong with this but I think it does
not make sense because it is not a sustainable and eventually everything will
collapse. Another interesting fact that Clemmitt reveals is that “ The top 1 percent of
income earners in the United States control nearly 18 percent of Americans’ total
income, the world’s highest such concentration. In 1949, however, the top American
earners lagged behind those of several other countries, including Indonesia,
Germany and the United Kingdom” (Clemmitt). Again we have one more example
that says a lot. The rich are growing richer, the rest are either stuck or growing
poorer. And it does not really seems like things are going to change because even
though the people at the top make more money, the middle class is paying
proportionally more than they are.
For my community service project I wanted to help the poor or an
organization dedicated to help the poor. I decided to help Contra Costa and
Solano County Food Bank, an organization that helps fight hunger locally by
distributing food for the poor. I chose this type of organization because considering
the amount of resources our country has, I think it would be easier to mitigate
poverty and hunger in the United States if the people and the government made an
effort to refocus on what is really important, and showed more support for this
organizations. What if we proposed ourselves to be the first country to eradicate
hunger, or at least take it to extremely low levels?
The Government
It is the government’s responsibility to take care of the welfare of the nation,
therefore they have created major domestic food aid programs such as the Food
Stamp Program, the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program,
Summer Food Service Program for Children, Special Supplemental Nutrition
Program for Women, Infants and Children, Child and Adult Care Food Program, and
Emergency Food Assistance Program. These programs are usually temporary
which can affect people who are unable to find new jobs with the time available.
I think the government has done a decent job trying to relieve hunger, but I
think the problem is that before eliminating hunger we must take care of poverty
first, otherwise it just will not work. It is not a matter of lack of resources but a
fundamental change. Ross Copeland, a Professor at the University of Kassel,
Germany explains:
Access to food and other resources is not a matter of
availability, but rather of ability to pay. Put bluntly, those with the
most money command the most resources, whilst those with little or
no money go hungry. This inevitably leads to a situation whereby
some sections of humanity arguably have too much and other sections
little or nothing. Indeed, globally the richest 20 per cent of humanity
controls around 85 per cent of all wealth, whilst the poorest 20
percent control only 1.5 per cent. (Copeland)
It is very simple; world hunger exists because our economic system is
imperfect. And hunger will remain until we open our eyes and reorganize efficiently.
My Opinion
My way of helping the community was by showing support for the Contra
Costa Food Bank. And it made me realize it is actually kind of hard to believe that we
are in 2011, and even though we have had an astounding progress in science and
technology we are still letting people die year after year (maybe not in America but
in poor countries) knowing that we could have made a difference and save lives.
I think we need to question our reality as human beings and as part of this
society, we cannot just conform to what we already have, we must innovate and
endeavor to make a better tomorrow.
Some of the aspects I would say we need to work on include promoting jobs
with proper salaries to avoid poverty, and encourage people to help the poor in
exchange for tax relief, etc.
Hopefully things will change with time, but in the meanwhile, we should at
least support welfare organizations and be thankful for what we got.
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