Last Monday, as most of the world watched two leaders with bad hair, a young man made a driving mistake on a crappy road in northeast St. Charles County. The young man paid with his life.
Between the hummus and the dill dip in the local grocery, I talked with a woman I’ve known for several years. She asked, as several folks have recently asked, how can I keep fighting to protect food stamps, Medicaid and the other strands of the safety net in the face of relentless partisan attacks. Why not let the system fail and make Republicans pick-up the pieces?
Oh, two thoughts come to mind. The first a visceral fear that most of the supermajority lacks the empathy to feel the pain they inflict, and, any taste of morality to require them to fix what they break.
For example, Louisiana today is on the verge of eliminating participation in the USDA food stamp program to save state dollars. [ https://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2018/06/snap_funding_cuts.html ] The pain to the one in four Louisianans now getting SNAP benefits figures not into the equation [ https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/pd/29SNAPcurrPP.pdf ], no, the “need” remains holding down the cost of government. Taking food off the tables of neighbors, well, hunger spurs self-reliance.
Second, each day many, many people around us suffer tragedies.
The death of a child, a young man not yet 22 years old, hurts a circle of family and friends.
Yet, smaller events deliver pain too. Employers close, throwing families into poverty. Health falters, changing lives and consuming resources. All our lives include challenges, but, for some of our neighbors they include want and pain.
Think of an empty refrigerator. In my life, and my daughter’s, empty means it’s past time to go to the grocery store and fill a cart with milk, eggs, fruit, meat and all. In many other lives, empty means no dinner tonight or breakfast tomorrow.
Great tragedies will always occur. People will die when they shouldn’t, weather will cripple entire communities. Yes, better roads can reduce traffic deaths and tougher building codes may somewhat mitigate Mother Nature’s wrath. Still, many big bad things will happen.
So will those little bad things happen.
While I don’t know how to stop a Mississippi River flood, I know that the answer to hunger is getting food to people who need it. That’s why I fight for food stamps and promote food pantries. Those with access to reliable health care live better and longer lives than those without access, so, I push for Medicaid and other medical efforts.
Pushing back against those small, everyday tragedies is something I can do, I must do to help others.
I think my friend understands. Still, I wish there was more I could do when the child of a friend dies.
Submitted by Glenn Koenen, WCD Member