Millions of US Americans fight against the hardness of poverty on a daily (and sometimes hourly) basis. Yet, when they see the horrific devesation that a natural disaster can unleash on a large city, even those who are the most poverty stricken begin to give what little they can, roll up their sleeves, and get to work helping to rebuild cities, and most importantly, lives. At some point during this labor of love, quite a few turn to those that have great financial comfort in their lives and shout a unified voice saying, "Hey! You have two hands too! Get in here and roll up your sleeves!"
Well, sometimes, rolling up the sleeves is not possible for some people, especially former presidents who have not only their own health and safety to worry about, but a schedule that makes the Daytona 500 look like a snail race. And yet, on the day Pearl Harbor is being honored, two former presidents trek down to a hurricane torn city, and present a cool $90 million in funding for the city. It was spoken by former President Bush that the amount of the donations ranged from a child's lemonade stand earnings of $16, to multi-million dollar donations from high-end coroirations and foreign national donations from around the globe. What this says to me is that everyone, quite literally, rolled up their sleeves and got to work.... on all levels.
I'd like to see more of this kind of thing taking place on a regular basis. Not just when a natural disaster strikes. What about the elderly couples, those who have worked hard their whole lives, married for 40 - 50+ years, and are now supposed to be enjoying their retirement? I know of one couple who are both in their 80's. They both have health problems that require them to take $600 worth of prescription medication a month. Social security for them both, in total amount, is just hovering above the $1000 per month range. After they spend that money (which is money that Medicare will NOT cover) on medication that keeps them alive, that leaves very little for them to live on. VERY little. They are retired. They do not get food stamps. They do not qualify for medicaid B. They do not qualify for welfare type cash aide. And, they don't want any of that. In fact, people who DO qualify for those aides are better off financially than the elderly couple who worked their whole lives!! That has got to be a total gash in their sides!
Then we see two former presidents manage to raise a total of $110 million dollars in a matter of months, from around the globe. My question is... why can't people just do this on a regular basis? There are people who have become homeless, for whatever reason, that have no choice but to sleep on the streets, regardless of what Mother Nature has planned. Homeless shelters will only keep people for up to a month. There are no permanent residencies for homeless people, unless they get extremely lucky. 99% of them are not lucky at all. They cannot get jobs, because they have no work clothes, no showers, no transportation (except their feet) and spend the bulk of their time trying to stay alive. Some have psychological ailments that require counselling and medication. But without a permanent residence, how are they going to even have a means by which of being contacted? They can go into a doctor's officer, or a hospital, and ask for treatment help. However, if they are suffering from psychological ailments, they may not have the wits about them to even know to do this. So, they remain homeless, helpless and fighting the best they can to stay alive, and at least fairly warm.
While it's nice to see this money flowing in to help victims of natural disasters...let's keep it going on a regular basis.
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