Today, I've gotten to know the face of homelessness. It isn't something that I'm enjoying. I wish that I could communicate these feelings to the Republicans in Washington who have decided that it is better to say no and hurt Obama rather than help the people of this country who are in need.
For those few who know me from Morning Feature, you know that I talk about my youngest son, the Younger W. He is now sixteen, and he seems to be attracted to friends who have problems. He can't always solve them, but he has a gift of listening to others when they need to talk about their problems.
In the last six months, he became friends with D. At the end of the last school year, D's family was evicted from their house. They had temporary housing with some friends, but after a couple of months, that friendship was getting strained, and the kids, especially the teens were asked to find someplace else to stay. The grandparents then agreed to take them in for a while.
However, today, the Younger W got a text message from D, saying that the grandfather had too much to drink last night and was having a terrible hangover. The grandfather told him to find someplace else to stay for now. The Younger W came to me, practically in tears, and asked if we could take him in.
Mr. W was at first against it. He had to be sure that D's parents were aware of where D was staying. I also called several teen shelters in the area to talk about any other options that might be available to him. When Mr. W was assured that D's parents were aware of where he was staying, and I told him that there were several shelters in the area that would take him if we did not, Mr. W decided that our home was better for D than either of the two available shelters that would take D in.
This is not the best time for someone else to come into our house. We're still trying to recover from my latest unemployment about a year ago. We're having a temporary cash flow crisis that limited my food budget this week to $30 for the three of us.
However, there was no way that I could turn D away. Is it convenient? No. Will it cause us to stretch what little bit we have for the next week? Probably, but I've gotten pretty good at stretching what food there is in the freezer and pantry.
The parents aren't the ne'er-do-wells that the Republicans have lately been describing the unemployed as being. They had good jobs up until they were both unexpectedly laid off as part of an entire department being eliminated. They expected that they would be able to get jobs within a reasonable amount of time. They did what they could to keep their family together, but finally, after months of depending only on unemployment, there was just not enough money to keep the one house that would keep them all together. They both now have jobs again, but are in the unfortunate place of no longer being unemployed, but not having received that first pay check.
I don't really have much else to say about this, and if you've read this far, thank you for that. I just don't see how the Republicans right now can turn their back on D, his family, and all the millions of others that are suffering in this economy through no fault of their own.
I understand that there is some frustration with the slowness of the change we hope for, but for D, his family, and all of the other homeless and the unemployed, please bite back on that frustration, and remember that the Democrats MUST do all that they can to keep the Republicans out of the majority this fall. Lives do literally depend on this. I found out today that you never can tell when the homeless will be knocking at the door. Do you want the country to turn them away any more?