A better day

One day we will not need food banks. We're pretty close to that now, as more than 75% of us in this country don't need anyone else to help us get food. The specific numbers vary on who is hungry or “food insecure,” but what is clear is that the most dignified way to move ahead as a country is to ensure that the remaining 25% can do the same.

One day we will not need angel tree programs or to adopt families for the holidays. Parents will be able to get the gifts they need for their own kids. We will not need to make fathers feel shame because they cannot purchase holiday gifts and are subjected to watching people they don’t know come walking into their homes to “save the holidays” for their children.

One day we will not need nonprofits to spring up in every city and town to help people get clean water, a bed, or school supplies for their kids.

We can do this better. We can move beyond addressing symptoms and focus on real economic development, on removing the obstacles faced by people born and raised in poverty. It is a matter of each of us recognizing that we have agency in this. It is utilizing our businesses to create apprenticeships, no matter the field. It is new partnerships among businesses, civic groups, and faith communities to tackle child care or transportation obstacles. It is relying less on government or poverty nonprofits and more on each other. This is a good place to start.

Real economic development means not kicking people out of their homes and neighborhoods in the name of urban renewal, and not ignoring people in rural areas because a lack of social cohesion has been guiding our actions, or lack thereof.

It is time to embrace that which unites us not that which separates us. No matter our age or how we see ourselves within the social “fabric,” each of us can remove obstacles or create opportunities for the most vulnerable members of our species.

Poverty is a result of how we see and relate to one another, on the surface and in the deepest of ways. It’s not about resources; there are plenty of those. It’s about moving past a symptom-level response and replacing contribution with commitment. It requires critical thinking about what works rather than letting emotions and ideas imprison our approach. Poverty is not intractable, but our approach to it is.

One day we will change that. As for when that day will come, it is up to you.