We read at americanprogress.org, that “In America, nearly 11 million children are poor.” There are all sorts of people, coming from all walks of life, that believe that adults should duly have to suffer from having made their own poor choices, or by not applying themselves, or from this or from that – which, on some level, might even make some sense. The thing is, though, what doesn’t make much sense is that children, that have been born into this country, of which, this is the richest nation that the world has ever known, should themselves have to suffer simply for being born into the wrong family, at the wrong time, and at the wrong place, as if they, the children, should therefore duly suffer for their parent’s faults, lacks, bad decisions and bad fate.
The amount of childhood poverty, in America, which does fluctuate year to year, depending upon the economy, politics, and other factors, has never been successfully eradicated or reduced to a respectable level, ever; and yet other countries with less aggregate wealth than America have substantially lower poverty rates than the United States of America, which is to America’s great shame. No doubt, there are plenty of reasons why America’s poverty rate is so persistent, of which, it would seem that the best advice to begin to seriously ameliorate such, would be to make it public policy that every child in this country be fairly entitled to a good education, a safe neighborhood, good healthcare, fair opportunity, and a clean environment.
The true hope for America, now and into the future, rests with the youth of America, and when that youth is properly permitted to develop themselves so as to become responsible, diligent, hard-working, and well-educated citizens of this land, then the end result is going to be beneficial for America, especially when those that make up the consort of that youth, is as inclusive as possible. The biggest mistake that America makes, time and time again, is to essentially create a nation in which being poor and disadvantaged, is the equivalency for a sizeable amount of our youth, to being denied having a real possibility or hope to become something of merit.
This thus means, that America, needs to, on a community basis, on a house-by-house basis, on an apartment-by-apartment basis, on a family-by-family basis, fairly provide to everyone in need, the accouterments that will help assure that the youth of today will be provided with the fair opportunity to get a sound education, as well as to have good social skills, and thereupon have real hope.
Those that truly want to see the cycle of poverty broken in America, must know for a certainty, that the best opportunity to do so, begins with the children, who at a young age, want to learn, as well as to explore, and are thereupon eager to take on life. What hurts children more than anything, is the negativity of being in an unsafe neighborhood without good mentors, a bad educational environment, poor healthcare, food insecurity, poverty, and an infrastructure which is sorely lacking in just about everything that is of value. In truth, when we do not provide our children with a fair shake to begin with, and insist that they pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, we need to honestly admit that it isn’t possible to do so, when that child has no boots to begin with, and is also barefoot.