Stop
playing the poverty blame game
Patty Eber, East
Walnut Hills, Ohio
I commend the Enquirer for the attention the stories about Millvale have brought to the deplorable conditions that so many of our children and their families live in today. Similarly, I am pleased to see the outpouring from community members and groups eager to eradicate child neglect and abuse and, more pointedly, the abject poverty that almost always envelops it.
However, all the hand wringing, “summits” of community leaders, donations from good-hearted citizens and empathy in the world will not make a whit of difference unless we all own up to our part in the evolution of the culture of poverty in our society.
Everyone wants to blame someone else but it seems no one is willing to confront their own part in it.
The Democrats blame the Republicans for stinginess in funding programs to help the poor and the Republicans blame the Democrats for having authorized so many programs that the poor have few incentives to improve themselves. The social service organizations blame the government for not giving them enough money to produce long lasting outcomes and the government blames the social service agencies for not providing more effective programs. The African- Americans blame the whites for overt as well as hidden racism and the whites blame the African-Americans for playing the race card too often and not taking responsibility for their actions..The upper class blames the downtrodden for not raising their children properly and the downtrodden blame the upper class for hoarding all the wealth. The inner city school systems blame poor parenting for low achieving schools and the parents blame the lousy school systems for their children’s lack of achievement. And on and on it goes.
The unassailable fact is that everyone – everyone – bears some responsibility for the mess we now find our most vulnerable citizens in. Until everyone stops the finger pointing and looks to themselves to see what they can change, absolutely nothing will change at all.
To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, ask not what someone else can do about poverty but rather ask what you – not others – can change to fix it.
I commend the Enquirer for the attention the stories about Millvale have brought to the deplorable conditions that so many of our children and their families live in today. Similarly, I am pleased to see the outpouring from community members and groups eager to eradicate child neglect and abuse and, more pointedly, the abject poverty that almost always envelops it.
However, all the hand wringing, “summits” of community leaders, donations from good-hearted citizens and empathy in the world will not make a whit of difference unless we all own up to our part in the evolution of the culture of poverty in our society.
Everyone wants to blame someone else but it seems no one is willing to confront their own part in it.
The Democrats blame the Republicans for stinginess in funding programs to help the poor and the Republicans blame the Democrats for having authorized so many programs that the poor have few incentives to improve themselves. The social service organizations blame the government for not giving them enough money to produce long lasting outcomes and the government blames the social service agencies for not providing more effective programs. The African- Americans blame the whites for overt as well as hidden racism and the whites blame the African-Americans for playing the race card too often and not taking responsibility for their actions..The upper class blames the downtrodden for not raising their children properly and the downtrodden blame the upper class for hoarding all the wealth. The inner city school systems blame poor parenting for low achieving schools and the parents blame the lousy school systems for their children’s lack of achievement. And on and on it goes.
The unassailable fact is that everyone – everyone – bears some responsibility for the mess we now find our most vulnerable citizens in. Until everyone stops the finger pointing and looks to themselves to see what they can change, absolutely nothing will change at all.
To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, ask not what someone else can do about poverty but rather ask what you – not others – can change to fix it.
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