Category Archives: Hunger

People or Birds?

Hunger, People, Uncategorized

In the film Taylor’s Campaign (1998), the Santa Monica City Council is shown passing a city ordinance forbidding the passing out of food to homeless in local areas. I personally found myself in shock by this horrific and inhumane move by a government body whose purpose is to “serve the people”, not watch them starve out on the streets. A few days after watching the film I found myself sitting outside of the local Costco eating a few large hot dogs. As I have since I was a young boy, I began picking off pieces of the bun and tossing them to the seagulls, who are regular visistors at Costco benches across the country. As is the usual reaction to such actions, the manager came over and asked me to cease fire. This time, however, my mind went somewhere other than my usual rationalization that feeding the birds mean more birds would flock to the benches and negatively affect business. No, this time my mind went straight to the homeless in Santa Monica and that controversial city ordinance.

 

How demeaning must it be in the first place to have to beg for food? How dehumanizing must it be to have someone tell you that you’re not allowed to be fed in public? If a mother feeds her daughter in the park, no one will be arrested. If a dog owner gives his pet a treat while they’re on their morning walk downtown, no one will be arrested. If we are supposed to treat everyone line family, with love and respect, why are we not allowed to feed our brethren when they are starving right in front of us?

“A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work”

Causes of Homelessness, Causes of Hunger, Causes of Poverty, Homelessness, Hunger, Poverty

It is amazing how far our country has come from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s declaration. There was concern about what workers’ should make for their labor. Where has it gone? In Arindrajit Dube’s’s opinion piece, The Minimum We Can Do (The New York Times, 2013), he discusses and asks questions concerning today’s federal minimum wage policies. Dube wants to know what should be done. Yet, isn’t that what everyone would want? What is fair?  However, the amount of minimum wage is what is creating inequality.

This article brought me back to a previous course assignment which truly changed my perspective. The assignment was to visit the internet website inequality.is and interact with the program. It showed statistics and situations that have led to where inequality is today. It provided comparisons of my possible income based off of my gender, ethnicity, age and education, which are all factors Dube discusses in his article. It was insightful to see the varying amounts depending on if I said I was White or Hispanic. No matter what, I had a lower income because I was a female.

Could it be that prejudice is a factor in those suffering from hunger and homelessness? Reflecting back on people I have seen on the streets and gave money to, the factors seen in both Dube’s article and the inequality.is interactive hold true. The concept of “a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work” is no longer relevant. Our country needs to stop doing the minimum in order for all to receive the maximum.

German Food Banks Struggle with Growing Demand

Hunger, International, News link

News clip from Der Spiegel Online: “Food banks and soup kitchens in many German cities are having trouble keeping up with growing demand. Some are now abandoning their free food models in their efforts to continue helping the needy.”  More need plus fewer charitable and public donations make it hard for food banks to cover their costs – even though they are staffed mostly by volunteers.  Read more HERE.