Thursday, February 6, 2014

Homelessness

     Homelessness is really a difficult thing to live through having been there before. Sometimes it was of my own making but it wasn't that case every single time. The last time it was Brandy and myself. Together we lived in a Toyota Corolla which isn't fun in the least I assure you and I never want to do it again. The whole roof, trunk, and back seat was loaded with much of what we owned. Thankfully that was a long time ago now but because of things like that I know how difficult it can be to get yourself off the streets.

     Anyway, Utah seems to have found a means to help alleviate the situation. They've begun giving homeless people apartments and I think also they're helping with food stamps. I imagine some will run with the opportunity that's presented. One of the hard parts of getting off of the street is having a home address of some kind. Another issue is being able to get cleaned up which isn't easy at public restroom sink though I've done it. For a while my address was at a soup kitchen but I had a cell phone so at least I could receive a call from an employer. http://www.exposingthetruth.co/utahs-plan-eradicate-homelessness-actually-working/

     While Utah's solution isn't perfect I think it's better than what's being done in most places. I do recall that it sometimes seemed impossible and I'm not joking on that. It seems like there are insurmountable obstacles which is why many will never break the cycle. In many cases someone's self image is damaged almost permanently which is sad.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Xenophobia

I was rather shocked recently that an ad would cause outrage of any kind because it wasn't in English. It happened with the ad this link goes to. http://www.eonline.com/news/506501/coca-cola-s-america-the-beautiful-commercial-sparks-outrage-on-twitter

Every one of us, except for a very few are the descendants of immigrants. My own ancestry is English, Irish, Norwegian, and several others and my family name originated with John Bigelow who was on the Winthrop Fleet of 1630. While my ancestors have been here in the America's for a long time, almost four centuries, it doesn't make me better than anyone else. John Bigelow, he was born in Suffolk, England on 16 February 1617.

America consists of a melting pot. That's part of what made this country so great. So many different ideas were brought together in one place it sparked so many inventions. I can guarantee you that the majority of those immigrants that came didn't speak English at first. They had to learn it over time and I'm sure it was difficult. Can you imagine why they would leave their homelands? It was lots of different reasons. Starvation or religious persecution was two of the big ones.

I would love to see the derision, hatred, bigotry, all go bye bye. It doesn't really belong when you think about it.