Last night I went to bible study and during our lesson my teacher started talking about a show called Secret Millionaire. He told us how he was watching an episode about a man that went to skid row in California and pretended that he was a homeless man in order to help the people that lived in that area. While I was in class I began to make a connection between the homeless people in Camden that live in the “Tent Village” and the people that live on Skid Row. I thought about the government and how they have had the perfect opportunity to help these people but don’t. It’s gotten so bad that the deprived areas are beginning to get nick names and attention from the media. Clearly, there is not enough being done to help these people because I’ve known about the Tent Village for quite some time now, I can only imagine how long Skid Row has been around. I believe that the system is way more concerned collecting money from people instead of using that money to help improve the U.S. I hope that more can be done to enable these people to bounce back from the position that they are in.
I think a lot of the problems with homeless and people with mental health disorders living on the streets stem back to the Reagan Administration. Federal money was taken away from programs and hospitals were shut down increasing the numbers of homeless individuals and families. A sad commentary on our country.
ReplyDeleteAs Marissa mentioned, sometimes extending a helping hand won’t do any justice if the person doesn’t want the help. It reminds me of the time I was on my way from Philly and I seen a homeless woman on the side of the road, my mother attempted to give her food and she refused. I didn’t understand why the homeless woman would do such a thing. I mean after all, wouldn’t you want something to eat if you were homeless?
ReplyDeleteI've heard about the unfortunatfe Tent Village. My mom mentioned it a few times, and try to make me appreciate the life that I live.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny because whenever I see a homeless man I think "what if" (reference to Shaq)he is actually a rich guy trying to get one over on everybody.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you a hundred percent Ms. Johnson. I think the world needs to be more empathetic to everyone else. If the world could put themselves in everyone shoes, they wouldinderstand what type of suffering the world truly goes through, and then try to help more people.
ReplyDeleteI recently just found out about the "tent village", I never really knew it was a real place. When I was younger my nanna would tell me "If you don't push for success, this will be your home." It's a scary thought if you ask me.
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