Houses. Homeless. Food Drives. $6M to fire a football coach. Country living. City living. The ghetto. On being scared/paranoid. There’s a lot of stuff rolling around in my head, so I’m basically just going to spit it all out and hope some of it makes sense. I tend to think a lot when I’m walking/running, which it where a majority of this comes from.
I grew up in the country. For most of my life, my closest neighbors were ½ a mile in either direction. I used to run with my iPod (I prefer running when I can hear a song instead of hearing myself breathe). I was always aware of my surroundings, but never really had to pay that much attention to what was really going on, because I was out in the middle of nowhere. But I was never taught to be “scared” of my surroundings. When I moved to the house I am now, numerous people questioned whether I was scared to live in the area. No, I am not scared to be here. A few people also told me that if I go out for a run, I should turn right out of my house, and not to turn left. Apparently, going that way leads out into a more sketchy area.
We started a food drive a couple weeks ago at work. In getting the information for the drive, we learned that the group we’re doing it for (FeedMore, I think) can provide 5 meals for every $1 that is donated. That’s absolutely incredible to me! I was talking to Annaka yesterday about football. I’m not sure how we got on the topic, but ended up discussing a school (Mississippi State maybe?) firing their head coach and having to pay him $6,000,000 to do so, because of how being fired will tarnish his coaching reputation. It completely baffles my mind that as a nation, we let this happen. Six million to fire a coach, millions upon millions to other athletes, corporations solely concerned about the bottom line and not their customers or employees. The number of people who could be fed with the money a man is being paid to get fired is crazy.
I am not a paranoid person. I’m not going to be scared to go outside at night because I live in a sketchy area. But I am also not stupid. I do realize the city where I live has a higher than average crime rate. So, I have stopped using my iPod when running outside. It lets me be more aware of what’s going on around me, whether it be other people around me or just the traffic. But I am also one to explore where I am. So, I took a big circle around my house for my run today to explore “the left side.” Now, don’t get me wrong, I am well aware that there is poverty all around me, but I’ve never really experienced it all that much. In less than 3 miles, I saw 4 or 5 condemned houses, and others that were being lived in that look like they should have been condemned too. It’s just so sad. The townhouse I live in is part of a government program that offers grants to low-income people in order to rebuild the area. Oddly (maybe not) though, it’s all WHITE, young professionals. Other than the area I live, it’s definitely a predominately black community. While I think it’s great the government is offering grants for these houses, I’m not sure it’s working, if the original members of the community are receiving the improvements. :/ And then I think about all the people I see out on the streets asking for money. And I realize that they all aren’t homeless, but many are. I wonder how much investment it would take to restore some of these houses around here. And what could be done to try to improve the lives of these men and women who are on the streets.
I wish I could do something to change things, but I have no clue where to even begin. Or what I can even do. It reminds me of the starfish story: There was once a huge storm that washed up a bunch of starfish onto the beach. A man saw a little boy who was walking along the beach throwing them back one at a time. The man approached the boy and said, “There’s too many, you can’t even possibly make a difference.” The little boy picked up another starfish, threw it back into the ocean, and replied, “I just made a difference to that one.” I just have to keep remembering that I don’t have to change the world to make a difference in someone’s life. Any suggestions about where to start?
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