The Poor are Always with Us
Jo Goodwin Parker’s essay, "What is Poverty" gives a brutally honest, close up, and personal view of the effects of poverty and the intense difficulty involved in rising above it. Parker displays utter hopelessness in regard to her situation ever changing, or her children having any future. She expects to one day see her boys in prison for desperate acts of survival and expects that her daughter will end up in circumstances mirroring her own. To Parker poverty is more than a lack of money, health and hope. Poverty is a destroyer of self respect, pride and honor.
Response: The welfare system is imperfect at best and terribly understaffed by people who become calloused to the needs of the individuals they serve. There are some slick individuals who are experts at using and abusing the system. For this reason, constant review of policies is needed to achieve optimum use of welfare funds and programs. More importantly the community as a whole needs to be active in giving a hand up, rather than a hand out to those who would exercise a desire to improve their circumstances. While there some recipients of welfare that don’t want anything more than to be taken care of, I can testify from personal experience that being on welfare is no picnic and most recipients want and are willing to work toward a better life.
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