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Speaking of Social Security
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| Speaking of Social Security |
| 02.25.05 (9:52 am) [edit] |
Watching the noon news I had a few thoughts. As they continue to plague me I thought I'd put them here.
When the temperatures hit extreme highs and lows there is a concerted effort around France to find the homeless streetdwellers and try to talk them into a shelter. If they refuse they are of course given blankets, hot food and drink.
Before anyone asks, I don't believe people can be forced to take assistance. No, they don't arrest people as vagrants here or I've never seen or heard of such a thing. Homelessness hasn't become a crime yet here in France.
Profiles were done on 2 people who were 'literally homeless" (littéralement sans domicile).
One was a man who looked to be in his 40's. He was lying in the snow. He did not even have a coat on. When they tried to communicate with him he was unable. No doubt he would have died soon. They managed to get him to a hospital and hopefully from there he will be given some help in getting the social assistance he needs.
The second person was an old black lady. She was sitting on a bench with the contents of her life in a huge bag beside her. She had to be at least 70+ years of age. She was well bundled up but in these temps no amount of covering is good enough to keep a body warm indefinitely. They were having a difficult time talking her into moving to a shelter. She did accept a hot drink. Oh yes, she enjoyed a cigerette also (oh the horror).
In light of all the talk from the far right these days about every man and woman for themselves, no government assistance, save your money, be responsible for yourselves, get a job you loafer, these people are not my responsiblity and I'm damn sure not paying taxes to take care of them...
I'm not sure how these 2 people found themselves in the street. I have lived long enough and through enough of my own difficult circumstances to know life has a way of disturbing the best laid plans. If you can afford the fallback protections some societies offer you may survive the loss of your job, a freak accident, incurable disease and other such mundane events. If you have family or friends that care enough you may also survive when the ice breaks putting you in the middle of the freezing river.
But, there is an entire population of people who have no one and the bare minimum they have is not enough to take them through a crisis.
I have yet to see any of these working so hard to do away with social assistance with a working plan on how to deal with the 'have nots' of this world. They cannot be ignored as they are trying very hard to do. They cannot be classified as bums and drug addicts not wanting to work. They cannot be classified as not worthy of the 'right to life' because of their situation or regardless of what put them there.
"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist."
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posted by: leyva1313 (reply)
post date: 02.25.05 (11:54 am)
fight the power
posted by: Muhammad (reply)
post date: 02.28.05 (11:27 pm)
I like the last line. It's a plague because these people like putting others in boxes in order to make sense of their corrupt world view.
i think our best bet is to ignore and move on doing our best to help. Ans ofcourse expose the hypocrisy.
Peace.
M.
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