Help at Home
Okay, I am about to step onto my soap box.
Yeah, I am a fan of helping my fellow man, believe me I do my part every day of my life. Well, I got to thinking last night after a 12 pack of Budweiser shared with a peer and a VERY heated discussion. Why is it we give all this foreign aid when we need help for our citizens right here at home.
Okay, I know you are asking what the fuck is Alice talking about? Well, on t.v. I watched Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie discussing the plight of the poor in Africa and Asia etc. and how we should all band together and help one another. Sure, that works for me but what about all the inner city kids that can't go outside there homes for fear of drug dealers and drive by shootings... kids whose mothers and fathers are in prison or on the streets doing drugs and leaving their kids for their grandmothers and great-grandmothers even to take care of them and raise them. How about the families in the appalachian mountains (yes, even more poor than the inner city)who don't even have a pot to piss in, let alone food, clothes, education. Okay, I have to go to a meeting I will hop off my soap box and continue this discussion in the comment section of this post.
Come on guys, I know you all are bright, intelligent, and VERY opinionated people... let's get a good discussion going on.
posted by FantasticAlice @ 6:57 AM
14 Comments:
I agree and disagree. In a perfect world we would all help each other. Unfortunately, the world ain't perfect. An example I think of that really pisses me off was the comment that America was stingy during the aftermath of the tsunami because they felt we were not sending enough money. In the end, we have sent more money than most countries.
I think my main problem is that most of these countries don't ask for our help and bitch when we give it. So why give it? If they don't want it, why are we forcing it on them? The Appalachians is a pitiful place, that is actually qualified as a 3rd world country. Right here in the middle of our country. Help them first. I can't drive through my town without seeing at least 20 homeless people on a given day. My town is in the top 10 or so for being unfriendly to the homeless; instead of sending charitable donations over seas why are we not using them right here?
I'm all for helping others but I think we need to help ourselves first.
Yeah, why is that? Why is it we give millions of dollars to people who don't appreciate what we do for them.. Why put ourselves in that situation in the first place if they can not be appreciative.
this will be the second summer that i go to a third world country to help people there. my mom had the same argument as you; she used your exact example about appalachia. here's the deal: appalachia didn't ask for my help, a little woman from honduras did. the people in the rain forest that i helped, did not complain one iota. i spent two sweaty weeks in a place with no electricity or running water. i planted trees, passed out meds, and taught a teeny bit of english to very eager appreciative people. as long as you're helping, why does it matter who it is? the is the most ideal world we're ever gonna live in unless you do something to make a difference...and if it's THAT important to you, i challenge each of you to go to appalachia,south oak cliff, compton or wheverever you are driven to help-in these here united states.
you're bitching about good will...why not give some?
i agree... i have seen some trailer homes in rural areas of arkansas that look like the people are still living in the depression days.
I believe in good will. But I also believe in throwing money down a bottomless pit. Two examples that I will use will be Ethiopia and the countries hit by the tsunami.
Feed the world. Well that was part of what USA For Africa and Live Aid was supposed to do. But, ask yourself: If I send food to a bunch of starving people, what do they eat after it's gone? That's the problem. You can't give someone something and then just walk away without showing them how to get it themselves. Most of their land isn't suitable for farming so they'd have to relocate and many of them won't or can't but have survived there for generations. Going there to educate and better their lives is a far better good than a quick fix.
Politics got involved when a humanitarian effort was launched to help several countries that suffered from the recent tsunami. One country redirected the "relief" effort to areas of political interest where rival factions were left to fend for themselves and agencies were urged to not go to those places. Sri Lanka is suffering because £1.75 billion has been set aside for their relief effort but the money has yet to be spent because the Colombo government has refused to delegate authority on the ground. Often seen as a corrupt government, they have been asking many families for documents so they can award compensation but most of that was lost or destroyed by the tsunami.
I feel that if we want to help other countries, we should go over there and assist. Money may fix some things in the short term but it is passing on our work ethic, knowledge and compassion that will help them recover. You can only use your bucket to bail water out of a sinking boat for so long before your arms get tired. Plug the hole first.
From a moral standpoint we must help third world countries care for their starving because we can. From an economic standpoint we must help them because it's in the best interest of the world economy.
Domestically, we spend billions trying to lift America's destitute. Help is available for all who want it, but at some point everyone has to stand up and take responsibility for his or her own plight. Help those to help themselves.
I live in Pakistan,where Angelina Jolie came on her way to Afghanistan.Despite the fact that we are one of the poorest countries in the world,we have been hositng three million afghan refugees.The refugees have been draining our scarce resources,but we still host them like pakistanis.
you have no idea the effect that your help may give to even one person. a kind word or five dollars can make a change that you may not ever realize. if you feel you are only feeding a bottomless pit, by all means, stop it. channel your efforts elsewhere. with the exception of dreadcow, i don't hear any of you saying specifically how you've helped, and the waste that you've seen in the end.
i don't think any of us disagree that aide is needed around the globe. every person that reads this blog has some form of expendable income. you all have the internet. if you can spend fifteen bucks on dial up and budweiser, you can damned well send a 20 dollar check every month the the US slum of your choice. once you give the support, it is out of your hands. good will is about giving, not what happens once the recipient has it...that's between them and someone else.
if any one person reading this has donated millions of dollars in vain, please contact me directly. i am involved in several efforts, both domestic and international, that could, and would, put the money to good use
I was all on board with dreadcow's first comment, but Daisy made a great point too.
As for me, I tried to volunteer at the Los Angeles homeless shelters and the people I was helping vandalized my car while I was in cooking food for them. Fucking A!
I sponsor a kid in South America - pay for her schooling. I have to say it is because somone asked me to (like Daisy said). I do agree that our own personal funds and time should be given at our own discression.
I also feel that our US TAX MONEY should be given to help US CITIZENS first and foremost! If we can somehow cure all the ills in America, then - hell, let's save the world. I see the overcrowded class rooms, the old books, the shitty after school programs (due to lack of funds), failing infrastructure, mounting debt, sky rocketing deficit (no, they are not the same), astronomical increases in health care costs, underfunding to research for all medical ailments, and the list could go on all day.
The cause I think is that Americans are the most generous people in the world. They are also very impulsive and not too smart. We do not logically analyze our own needs and the ramifications of not adressing these needs (i.e., social security for the past 20 years). We leave our collective head in the sand until there is a disaster.
Once there is a disaster, like the Tsunami, American individual purse strings open up and the money flows because we are so compassionate.
If someone could just make a good marketing campaign for the Appalachian kids, I bet we would help. Americans want to help. They are too lazt to research stuff. They are so generous though that if some politicians would just be forthwright, we could fix many of these ills.
No one dares tro say, do not send money to the Tsunami victims because inner city kids need vaccinations. It will never happen. Blame CNN and all the 24 hour news channels. Politicians are terrified to do anything that could cost them their jobs. It's all about spin. Status quo and keeping their heads down so as not to have them shot off, figuratively.
since the US gov't is going billions and billions of bucks into the hole on behaf of IRAQ i have only one thing to say on alice's subject..its an atrocity that we can spend that kind of money in iraq and still have children going to bed without food in our own country..i used to give to the red cross till i found out that a large percentage of our money goes to things other than helping people..it goes to advertising, big fat salaries and then to whatever group they feel needs it the most..only if they specifically say "your funds" will be used for a specific group or emergency are they on the hook to use them there..I have no answer to this dilemma alice posted..i hate that children suffer anywhere in the world..but if we give a country money and they spit in our faces then we need to quit giving them money and put it to use elsewhere...
ill tell you one thing they will never send a stem cell
Well, I'd have to agree with dreadcow AND daisyduke.
If we're talking in helping in the masses, I'm with dreadcow. IE: America as a country should be helping America.
If we're talking ME helping, I'm with daisyduke. Who cares who I'm helping, just help.
My reasons for this? Well, America is known to "butt in" whenever it feels it damn well should. Don't get me wrong, I love my country, but I love my family too and there are things they could do differently. America really does try to be the "Superman" of the world and it's not. I know all these other third world countries and such could use all the help they can get, and my heart goes out to them fully. I know they didn't ask for their living situations or to be born where they are, but neither did American's who are suffering just as much. I guess I just feel like they (America) should be helping their people first before putting it all out there for everyone else. I know this may make me sound greedy, but that is not at all what I'm getting at. And I know that a lot of American's don't appreciate most, if anything we have in this country, but I also know that we're not the only one's who don't know how to appreciate.
As for Angelina and Brad, I'll say it a thousand times over, celebrities aren't "real" people, so they don't count. :p If I had the kind of money they did, I wouldn't own 15 mansion's and 500 cars all on 20 inch wheels. I'd have a nice cozy home for myself and my family members would as well. I'd use the rest of the money to help those who need it. They get most of all their shit for free anyway! 'You're rich and famous and can afford anything you want! I'll give you my designer clothing for free! You can eat at my restaurant for free!" I just don't fucking get it.
Actually- I volunteer in my home state. I have built houses with habitat for humanity, sponsored food drives for local homeless shelters, volunteered in halfway houses, rung bells for the Salvation Army, and worked as a candy striper. Just so people don't think I'm bitching and not doing anything :)
But have you been in a homeless shelter recently? Doesn't seem like they are getting a whole lot of help to me.
Individually helping others from other countries is great because they are actually benefitting from the help, but when our country sends money and food, who actually gets it? From what I hear, not the people who really need it. I'm open to correction on that. But to me its not the issue of what the individual does, its the issue of what the government is doing. If individuals want to go oversees and help people more power to them; I find it commendable. But I see enough trouble in my own backyard, so I volunteer closer to home.
Habitat for Humanity has ALWAYS been a big Charity I donate too, and occasionaly have worked at.
Kudos to you Megan
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