Haiti

[aldente]

Recently the following was posted on Facebook by a couple fellow Harborites:

"Shame on you America: the only country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment - yet we have a benefit for the people of Haiti on 12 TV stations. 99% of people won't have the guts to copy and repost this, but I did because I TOTALLY AGREE!"

I reacted somewhat viscerally. Comments on Facebook are necessarily brief and therefore terse. I wish to say I impugn no individual's motives or belief but I feel strongly that sentiments such as this need to confronted when they occur.

I don't know the political befiefs of those posting this item. I assert no claim to know their hearts on this matter. However, I do feel strongly that the vast majority of those posting this item on their Facebook page are being less than candid about their motives.

I made the comment:

"Nothing stops anyone from donating to (or maybe better yet, volunteering at) their local soup kitchen, hospice, childrens' hospital, mental health org, homeless shelter, etc. The fact that more of us don't do this simply tells us we respond much better to transient crisis much better than ongoing ones. I wonder how many of those who support this comment vote for politicians who regularly shortchange the poor, homeless, mentally ill, hungry and downtrodden. We can afford to be generous to Haitians AND our own. The fact that we are not so generous to our own doesn't let us off the hook when the truly needed beyond our borders are suffering as those in Haiti are suffering. We should be proud of America's response to this crisis. Shame on those who aren't."

I suspect strongly that most of those responding positively to the original item vote for or favor political candidates who react with horror to any program that smacks of "welfare" and decry a "creeping socialism" in our society. I suspect they support candidates who oppose "universal health coverage" and "the public option" in the health care debate. Both of these proposals would go a long way toward ameliorating some of the hardships they claim to decry in our country (care for the mentally ill and elderly). Candidates who stonewall health care reform and fought the creation and then expansion of CHIP (The Childrens Health Insurance Program). Candidates who scream about "welfare queens" and would use the few who abuse welfare programs and food stamps to jettison or cripple those programs as a whole.

I was a teacher in an inner city environment for many years. Some of that time I taught Special Ed students. Specifically, ED/BD (emotionally disturbed and behaviorally disturbed) classes. I knew of two students who told me their mothers instructed them to act out and misbehave so they could get SSI checks. This was a terrible abuse of the system. However, it cannot be used to discredit the system as a whole. The vast majority of the students I came in contact with had serious issues beyond their or their parents control. We can't throw the baby out with the bathwater. But there are many who would use such abuses as a justification to end or cripple aid to such families. In any system involving money there will be frauds and abuses.

Again, I don't wish to cast aspersions on any individuals. I have reason to believe in the good hearts of fellow Harborites. But in cases like this I think it is important to think about who our bedfellows are. What do we think the vast majority of those taking this stand actually stand for, believe? Are they individuals who support programs and politicians who would actually help the mentally ill and elderly get the medications they need? The inclusion of more children in CHIP? Aid to the homeless and destitute? Affordable health care for all Americans? Are the majority of those who would denounce and decry the massive aid to Haitians in this time of need actually people who would endorse and seek to adopt programs helping the elderly, the mentally ill, the children and the needy in our country. I don't honestly think so.

Apologies, sincere apologies, to any I may have offended with my Facebook comments and comments here. I mean no disrespect or disparagement of individuals. I simply ask that we look at what are the actual beliefs behind many who would support the statement quoted above. Are we giving legitimacy and aid and comfort to those who in practice fight tooth and nail against the sorts of programs that would ameliorate the hardships they cite to speak against our outreach to the Haitian people in their time of dire need?

[KatLin]

I'm not going to apologies for a thing here. You are missing the point that this huge effort could also be made here to help people here. You said in one of your replies why not help both. That statement made it appear that you got it. Any program I'm for or against will not be the ones that look good or work because they have worked for years. No nothing should be tossed out completely however programs have to change with the times and what pisses me off are the cuts in them that mostly hurt the ones who do not abuse the system. I really can't believe after all these years you don't get that people even here at the Harbor are fighting to stay afloat. Most of us are lucky we have people to lean on. We can find recourses to meet our needs. The exception here is the cut backs in mental health services and hospital units. People get transported all over the state here depending on where the open bed may be. Meds are changed that work and keep people stable because insurance won’t pay. I went without 2 medications I needed because Medicare D wouldn't pay and Medicaid doesn’t cover meds since Medicare D took over. I got lucky this year and only have one med not covered. Social Security didn’t get an increase this year but they raised the monthly premium, co pays went up also. Food goes up every week maybe day. Not everyone gets food stamps on Social Security. You can be proud of the effort for the relief there but why is it not appropriate for those of us who feel the same effort can me made here to voice it without our politics being questioned? Or the type of people we are after all these years. I’m not a bad person for seeing a need for help here NOW as well as there. I can have compassion for both countries. You don't seem to see that there are people dying here now and though those programs are great they don't help enough to keep seniors from freezing to death in their homes. Face book gives you 420 characters when you post. That post covered basically how I feel about this not being done here at home allot sooner as well as there. You could have asked for elaboration on this before questioning what kind of person I am or what social programs I am for or against. Face book gives 420 characters not much to make your point. See I know you are a good man with a good heart and agreeing with something I don't doesn’t make me question your politics or what kind of person I've been associating with all these years.