The episode was titled "Inside the lives of America's Poor".
Well I watched some of it and I was not impressed. They talked to some homeless families and some of the poor in the Apalacian Mountains. I don't think that a true picture of the poor is an interview with a poor person. I don't even think that doing a reality show on living poor for a year could even begin to paint a picture of what it is truly like to be poor. Some one once said to me: "You know you are poor when you go to work and steel toilet paper". And for someone to insinuate that being poor is a side effect of mental illness....OMG....this just makes me sick. I'm sure there are some cases out there, however, I believe since I am one of those working poor that maybe it is because you're poor that there are so people out there who are depressed, divorced, etc. and not the other way around.
Four out of 10 children live below poverty. Or as Oprah said "The entire population of Canada". Well was she trying to shock me? I already knew that. Is it true that only the poor truly see each other? That the poor are invisable to the rich? How can it be that children go to bed hungry every day in the GREATEST COUNTRY OF THE WORLD? At the same time I see workers throw oranges away every day because they are less than perfect. Markets throw outdated food in their trashcans than put fences around them to keep out the people who are homeless and hungry. Why isn't this same food frozen and shipped to people? Is it because there aren't any funds? I doubt it. I believe there are funds. Every day airplanes and trains return 1/2 empty from destinations. I know truckers who have also returned with empty trucks. They don't like to, but I know of it happening. Do I have all the answers? No. I'm sure there is someone being paid a 6 figure salary somewhere who is trying to come up with some.
How about we take one place, a city in Kentucky maybe, and feed them. Enough that they have enough for once. Get these people strong and healthy again. Take the ones who want to work and put them to work fixing their own town? Lets get some plumbing, running water and the kids to school every day. Then we can train the best of the best to go to the next town to help the next set of people. This letting people cope on their own is just a bunch of crap. In the end it is always the most helpless who do suffer the most. It is the children, the disabled, the elderly, the poor and the sick.
I'm ranting I guess. I know Oprah was trying to open the public's eyes to the poor. I just don't see how she is helping them. I think they were just news.
Oprah today
October 12th, 2005 at 11:05 pm
October 13th, 2005 at 03:03 pm 1129215795
One thing that is really worrysome is that to be able to develop healthily, a brain needs FOOD....if children do NOT get proper meals (abundant and nutritious), just the energy it takes them to grow will rob the brain of its share...add to that a kid that is actually doing physical activities (and poor kids generally have to work and/or do harder chores)....it is really sad...I see it all the time here in El Salvador....right now, there are places like The Love Link who takes in severly malnourished children and brings them back to healthy weights (we are talking 6 month-old babies weighing 9 Lbs...and YES, I mean 9 -nine- that was not a typo!!)...Also, there is a new initiative called Pounds of Love, which "sells" recipes at $1.00 at the supermarket...all proceeds go towards giving not only food but also health education and medical supervision of progress to the poorest areas of the country...
The poor are invisible, but only because it is easier to shut our eyes than to try to reach out and help...and, well, if Oprah's program can get at least one more person to actually help...at least that will be something...