To the girl in my English class,
You sat in the back of the room on Friday as we discussed the reading we were assigned for class. We were talking about the poor, and if we should help them or not. You argued that you are a "hard-working" person and that if people are "too lazy" to make opportunities for themselves, then that is no one else's fault but theirs.
I was walking down the streets of Newark with my two best friends, going to Chipotle. It's something probably hundreds upon thousands of people do every day. It was raining out, so I had my sweatshirt hoodie up, us three huddled underneath one umbrella, our purses and wallets in hand, excited to eat after a long day of school. As we approached Chipotle, there was a homeless man sitting outside, trying to keep dry and warm in the awful weather. He reached out to us, asking if we had any money to spare him. We each only had big bills, so we said as soon as we left, we'll give him what we have left. Then he said, "Or you can buy me some food, I don't care, I just really need to eat."
It is so easy to be in our own little bubble, not thinking about the struggles of what others go through. I did not know this man's name or his story. But I could tell he had a good heart and soul, you could just feel it. The reason behind his homelessness is irrelevant when you look into his eyes, him trying to get anyone that passes to help him out.
The official poverty rate in America is 13.5%, which would mean that 43 million Americans are living in poverty. Of these Americans, over 560,000 of them are homeless. That means there are 560,000 other people just like that sweet man I met that day. What makes my life more valuable than his? The life I was born into, the privilege I have?
By your argument's standards, what could this man have done for himself? What "opportunities" does he have? Eating out of trash, most likely being swatted away like a fly? Trying to sleep under overhangs of restaurants, where there are either spikes in the ground or where he is swatted away like a fly as well? Or how about walking into a McDonald's, where they'll judge him because of his lack of formal attire or a proper shower? His only place where he'd be possibly accepted will probably turn their backs on him.
I know how easy it is to forget the real world. But sitting in your privilege, disconnecting from reality because it doesn't affect you is the exact opposite of humanity. I refuse to excuse your mentality. If you were the man I had come across, you would want my help, too.
Poverty has decreased significantly in the past few years alone...why? Because they receive help. I will not be the person who turns a blind eye and lets their cries for help fall on deaf ears. I hope you realize soon that you shouldn't, either.
