When you can't afford to eat
Posted on Sun, Dec. 29, 2002
By Molly Ivins
Creators Syndicate
dfw.com
The only president we've got went down to the Capitol Area Food Bank
in Washington the other day for a photo op with people who can't afford to eat.
"I hope people around this country realize that agencies such
as this food bank need money. They need our contributions. Contribution are down.
They shouldn't be down in a time of need," said GeeDubya Bush.
Right away, we notice real progress.
When Bush was running for the presidency in 2000, the feds released
their annual report on hunger in America, and Texas was once again
in its perennial spot at the top of the list, No. 1 in Hunger.
Bush thought it was some dastardly scheme by the Clinton
administration to make Texas, and hence Bush, look bad. He said,
"You'd think the governor would know if there are pockets of
hunger in Texas."
Yeah, you would. But look on the bright side:
So he didn't know there's hunger in Texas after several years in office;
after only two years in Washington, he's discovered the problem.
Sort of. Here's what he has done about it:
o Number of seniors who will be cut off meal programs because of Bush budget: 36,000.
o Number of families who will be cut off of heating assistance because of the Bush budget: 532,000.
o Number of homeless kids who will be cut from education programs because of Bush budget: 8,000.
o Number of kids who will be cut off of after-school programs because of the Bush budget: 50,000.
o Number of kids who will be cut off of child care because of Bush budget: 33,000.
Members of Congress have promised to rush back to the Capitol after the
holidays to fix the unemployment insurance cut-off problem -- about
a million people were to have lost benefits Saturday -- so with any luck
those folks will have only a bad couple of weeks.
However, those who have already exhausted their benefits
or who will see their eligibility expire in coming months really
are out of luck unless the Democrats' plan to reauthorize and
expand the benefits is endorsed by Bush.
Happy New Year to the 2.5 million out-of-work people who depend on this lifeline.
Question: Which news got more attention from the
media -- Bush's photo op at the food bank or the facts in his budget?
It's commendable of the prez to urge us to contribute to food banks,
but since his No. 1 domestic priority is to enrich the rich while leaving
the poor to charity, we are stuck with a quandary he noted himself:
Need is up, and contributions are down. And as the charities themselves
have been screaming for years, they cannot possibly replace government programs.
On the theory that the world will be saved not by irony but by empathy,
I'd like to quote the end of an article in The New York Times Magazine
about adopting Ethiopian AIDS orphans. This beautifully written account
about saving a handful of the millions of African AIDS orphans was
written by Melissa Fay Greene, the adoptive mother of one of the orphans.
She reports of her new daughter:
"One day not long ago, she collapsed in my arms to cry about
her late mother. I held her as she writhed, wailing, 'Why she had to die?'
A few moments later, she said, amid tears: 'I know why she died.
Because she was very sick, and we didn't have the medicine.'
"'I know,' I said. 'It's true. I'm so sorry. I wish I had known you then.
I wish I could have sent her the medicine.'
"'But we didn't have a phone,' she cried, 'and I couldn't call you.'"
Pretend that they have phones -- the AIDS orphans and the homeless
kids and the hungry families. Pretend that they can call you
and tell you how desperate their needs are.
And if you can only save one orphan or help
one homeless kid or feed one hungry family once -- well, that's something, isn't it? |
