Mike Pouraryan
OV Week-End: Voices From the Street Corners
:
Personal Reflections...and a Need to Hope.....
As I have making the rounds of the Sunday Talk Shows, I have also been thinking about the plight of people on Main Street. I was out and about yesterday on some committments and noticed a few people with signs asking for help. After a bit of soul searching, I decided to muster up the courage to walk up and talk to both of them.
The first person I talked to was a maintenance guy. He and his wife worked for a company in Lake Forest, California. His wife was an Accountant. They both lost their jobs when the company shut down. He told me that he had been everywhere and left applications at all places. Yet, there was nothing. The only thing I could tell him was to keep the faith. I then walked up to talk to a couple who were at a Costco sitting and holding up a sign asking for help.
I got to talking to them and asking them what happened. The gentleman noted that he worked in Construction and was a painter. He noted that there was nothing to be found. He then told me that he had no other choice but to be "out here" trying to see what was available. This is while people continued to walk into Costco to buy the products they wanted. It is as America goes on to celebrate Thanksgiving.
I was profoundly moved by the plight of these two individuals. All of us t led me to think about the kind of social safety net that is necessary so that people are not forced on the streets. While supporting my son's Cub Scout Pack's efforts during Scouting for Food, I thought all who are really desparate for even a meal. As I drove away and reflected upon the plight of those two, I wondered if it could truly be me someday and whether if we as a society had the courage to overcome. I continue to have hope because I have seen an America that has overcome great odds to do great things. That's why I remain thankful and hopeful as America celebrates Thanksgiving Week.
The first person I talked to was a maintenance guy. He and his wife worked for a company in Lake Forest, California. His wife was an Accountant. They both lost their jobs when the company shut down. He told me that he had been everywhere and left applications at all places. Yet, there was nothing. The only thing I could tell him was to keep the faith. I then walked up to talk to a couple who were at a Costco sitting and holding up a sign asking for help.
I got to talking to them and asking them what happened. The gentleman noted that he worked in Construction and was a painter. He noted that there was nothing to be found. He then told me that he had no other choice but to be "out here" trying to see what was available. This is while people continued to walk into Costco to buy the products they wanted. It is as America goes on to celebrate Thanksgiving.
I was profoundly moved by the plight of these two individuals. All of us t led me to think about the kind of social safety net that is necessary so that people are not forced on the streets. While supporting my son's Cub Scout Pack's efforts during Scouting for Food, I thought all who are really desparate for even a meal. As I drove away and reflected upon the plight of those two, I wondered if it could truly be me someday and whether if we as a society had the courage to overcome. I continue to have hope because I have seen an America that has overcome great odds to do great things. That's why I remain thankful and hopeful as America celebrates Thanksgiving Week.
The Political Brief
The high unemployment and newly poor can thank the liberals and their multi-trillion dollar waste packages that accomplish nothing. Tax cuts and working with small business instead of trying to destroy them might have kept those people working.
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Kitten Politics
Thanks for your visit and your suggestion. What I did on a personal level is something that will be between myself and those individuals. You seem to not realize the extent of the hurt that is going on out there right now.
What you and your ideological soulmates need to understand is that there is genuine hurt out there. Simple minded solutions that you all advocate is simply not going to work. I will remind you that it was tried tried during the Bush Adminstration and it failed..and failed miserably. The results are evident now.
if you and your ideological soulmates had your way, doing nothing would have been the way to go..and the results would have been even worst than we are in today. The fact does remain that the natoinal debt is too high, the unemployment is too high, people are afraid and there needs to be a concerted effort to not have a 'bunkerlike" ideological mentaility which seems to be the order of the day.
The Political Brief