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The beat goes on
There's about $160.00 dollars in your pocket. You've just had dinner for two and it cost you $60.00 bucks. You walk down the street and you see your favorite bakery shop and you decide to buy a cake that costs $20.00. Mind you, the cake is tiny but extremely delicious.
Life seems grand at the moment. You work hard to enjoy the fruits of your knowledge and your hard work. You acknowledge that there will always be those who are less fortunate than you, but you say to yourself "everyone has a choice".
In New York City you are told that you are not supposed to give money to homeless people in the subways because it'll only get worse. What kind of impression do we want to give the thousands of tourists that visit our city everyday? We don't want them to see that we too have poor people, yup poor people in New York City. The city where dreams come true, where anyone can be star.
I see the following and I'm compelled to make a photographic note of it.
Even though we have thousands of people in our subway system, the person there might as well not have existed. No one, and I mean no one realized there was a person there. Do I feel bad for that individual there? Yes, I feel bad for a immense amount of people. At the same time I feel conflicted.
My mind instantly goes back to the country where I come from. People there starve, have no TV's, no computers, no internet, no luxuries. People there earn $40.00 dollars a month as their monthly salary. With the little that they get, they make progress. Even if progress means being able to at least put some bread on the table, it's progress because they at least they will have some sort of food in their mouth that night.
My mind then jumps to 1979, when a young man got the opportunity of a lifetime and made his way to New York. Not knowing the language this man worked day and night to learn English so that he could find his way and get his remaining family over here. Twenty seven years has passed by and that young man now has his own home here in New York and his family with him.
If an immigrant with no knowledge of English and only the desire to better his life can make it in New York so can the people who are born here. In the U.S. we are afforded such luxuries as public school, free books, etc. Yet, we manage to produce so many people who end up worse than those who come here and take a chance on life.
Do I feel bad for the man you see in the picture? Yes, I do, but we all have choices. Some of us choose to take the easy road, and the rest of us keep working at it.
Life seems grand at the moment. You work hard to enjoy the fruits of your knowledge and your hard work. You acknowledge that there will always be those who are less fortunate than you, but you say to yourself "everyone has a choice".
In New York City you are told that you are not supposed to give money to homeless people in the subways because it'll only get worse. What kind of impression do we want to give the thousands of tourists that visit our city everyday? We don't want them to see that we too have poor people, yup poor people in New York City. The city where dreams come true, where anyone can be star.
I see the following and I'm compelled to make a photographic note of it.
Even though we have thousands of people in our subway system, the person there might as well not have existed. No one, and I mean no one realized there was a person there. Do I feel bad for that individual there? Yes, I feel bad for a immense amount of people. At the same time I feel conflicted.
My mind instantly goes back to the country where I come from. People there starve, have no TV's, no computers, no internet, no luxuries. People there earn $40.00 dollars a month as their monthly salary. With the little that they get, they make progress. Even if progress means being able to at least put some bread on the table, it's progress because they at least they will have some sort of food in their mouth that night.
My mind then jumps to 1979, when a young man got the opportunity of a lifetime and made his way to New York. Not knowing the language this man worked day and night to learn English so that he could find his way and get his remaining family over here. Twenty seven years has passed by and that young man now has his own home here in New York and his family with him.
If an immigrant with no knowledge of English and only the desire to better his life can make it in New York so can the people who are born here. In the U.S. we are afforded such luxuries as public school, free books, etc. Yet, we manage to produce so many people who end up worse than those who come here and take a chance on life.
Do I feel bad for the man you see in the picture? Yes, I do, but we all have choices. Some of us choose to take the easy road, and the rest of us keep working at it.
posted by Jeff at Thursday, March 09, 2006
6 Comments:
Sometimes the situation is more complicated then that though, sometimes really bad shit happens. But I tend to think on the same lines as you, bad decisions, personal choices. Should I feel bad because someone thought scoring another hit was a better idea then heading off to work...?
Oh and the pictures... wow.
Jeff - your blog has really touched me.
As for the man who made his way 27 years - he is the true of success - and his story resonates deeply
Really gald I came across you
warm wishes
Nazli
I live in Santa Cruz, California and we have a considerable population of homeless as well. Like you, I feel conflicted about the situation. I hand out a lot less $ than I have in the past. Does giving away money really help? It's tough. Seeing them live that way makes your heart ache but like you said, we do have choices.... Extensive topic...
and sometimes people have less of a choice - especially when they have mental health issues. but whichever one precedes the other one (mental illness and poverty), we will never know...
they need more than money to help them. they need SOMEONE to teach them life skills all over again. to give them opportunitites to build up their confidence. and that SOMEONE my friend seems HARD TO FIND in this country,sad to say.
i, too, am conflicted around this issue.
I give to our local homeless shelter and the Unitied Way but seldom do I give handouts unless it's to buy someone a meal.
I don't mind helping someone down on their luck who's trying, but I refuse to enable a drunk, addict or someone too lazy to work.
There's help out there for anyone who really wants it.
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