|
Every day in America there are people who have to fight to figure out how to buy food AND pay their utility bill. Who have to figure out how to pay for gas AND their car insurance. Who have to decide whether it's more important to buy more school clothes, or to get school supplies.
Like the survivors of the Katrina disaster who are still waiting for someone, anyone, to step up and help them regain their feet, these people are the invisible Americans the "trickle down" doesn't reach.
They may have medical issues that make it harder for them to get and keep a job. They may have family issues that require more involvement in their kids' lives than the average working parent. They might be a single parent striving to shoulder all the burdens that a single parent must carry.
We offer few avenues of escape for people who are buried under an avalanche of responsibility. What they need is for someone, anyone, to step up and say to them, "here, let me take a little of that off your hands."
It should not have been impossible for America to provide homes for those who lost everything when Katrina drowned New Orleans. Many, many Americans voluntarily made sacrifices to help these people without any guidance and leadership from the government. But a concerted effort on the part of our leaders might well have taken care of the issue. And, even had the government NOT been willing or able to shoulder the load, the corporate media could have done a lot more to show Americans that their assistance would still be appreciated.
We have an obligation to our neighbors, an obligation to our fellow travelers on this spinning globe. And all the excuses in the world won't make it go away. Humanity is both the sum of our parts, and the true reason behind our existence. If we cannot stretch out our hands to those who need it most, if we cannot open our eyes to the suffering of those with the least, we do not deserve the title.
It's time we acknowledged these invisible Americans and pulled them into the light. No other course can be justified.
|