I Must Be Missing Something

We all see the world through certain lenses. Our viewpoints are created by our experiences and as such, we are limited to what we choose to go out and see. As educators we work to open children's minds and encourage them to develop a deep understanding of the world. I have had the privilege to work and live in a variety of settings, Kalamazoo, the Detroit suburbs, and the Chicago suburbs. I have seen people drive their children in Ferrari's to school and hop off the back of the field truck after they finished in the fields as the school bus dropped their children off at the migrant farm. I have seen individuals with MBA's from big universities become house poor as the economy tanked and single unmarried parents working a shift at the Family Dollar followed by a shift at Target just to make the rent. What I seem to be missing is the large chunk of society who isn't trying to figure out how to make it day by day. I've spent twenty-two years working with families and communities and somehow I can only name two incidents of families that weren't working hard to try to be productive members of society for their own family. In both cases, there were significant mental health concerns that churches and community organizations were trying to figure out a way to help.

Now, I realize that I have only seen a small slice of America. From pre-student teaching to my current role, I've been in seven school districts. In each community, either through church or religion, I have seen service learning projects. Students and adults, families and congregants, going out and trying to help individuals and families that have fallen get up. When I've talked to those that are there, those who work and those who need help, many are victims of circumstances including abuse and neglect. Some suffer significant mental illness, frequently untreated, and some are truly lost in the world.

In the United States, 21% of children, over 15,000,000, kids live with families earning less than the Federal poverty line. This is down from 16,387,000 in 2011. This is a pretty large number. These children are spread everywhere. They live in cities, in suburbs, and in small towns. I have worked with many and their families. The funny thing is, their peers understand that their families are working to make it. They ask what does your mom do. The children share the jobs she's working. Their friends ask who is home when you get home. Sometimes its no one. Sometimes its an aunt, a grandma, or dad's friend. Frequently the conversations end with wow, you parent works a lot. These same kids, those in poverty and those that are not, often join in for a used coat drive "we are just sharing it with the next family that needs it," or helping make lunches at the local social service, "I may not be able to share the food, but I can help make the meal."

So, I must be missing something. I have yet to meet these denizens of leeches working the system to avoid their societal responsibility. These individuals and families that are conscientiously working the government over while playing their iPhones. Is their corruption and manipulation? Of course there must be. Am I saying that everyone is pure and innocent? No. Simply, I see greater empathy from our students and our families, those who have and those who don't than from our leaders. I am proud of the social service our children lead, our teachers lead, and our congregations lead. I wonder why those at the top are the ones who see these large bands of leeches, I'm here in the trenches and struggling to find them.

So Shines a Good Deed in a Weary World