On a a splendid fall Saturday afternoon, a young man stood outside a convenience store with three children ranging in height from 2 feet to 3 feet. As they dug into their candy, the little girl dropped her wrapper on the ground. I took a deep breath and approached the father suggesting that this was an opportunity to teach about not littering. Getting between me and his daughter, he didn’t exactly speak as much as physically demonstrate that I would not be entering his, or his children’s, world in any way, shape or form. I protested. Glowering, he put two fingers within an inch of my nose, speaking far more eloquently than words could have. He tossed the Fudgsicle on the sidewalk and took the children back into the store to replenish their supply.

I put the Fudgsicle and litter in the trash. After finishing my errand, I walked past him and the children waiting for the bus. With bags under his eyes and a tattoo on his neck, he looked defeated and depleted. I have no idea what it’s like to go home with three toddlers coming down from a sugar spike, but I know very well what it’s like to be the child of overwhelmed, exhausted parents.

This vignette illustrates that our society has utterly, miserably failed that young man and his children. Poverty is a very complicated problem and there are no ready answers. The high incarceration rate of blacks has systematically castrated that community and left it defenseless. Women don’t have partners, children don’t have fathers. Role model? That is the quaint relic of the era before thee strikes and you’re out and mandatory sentencing. Young boys and men have meager earning power and crushingly high unemployment.

What is the logic of bleeding a community of resources and then punishing it for being poor? What resources does this community have to work with? If you don’t have a shovel, how do you dig out of a hole? In his shoes, I doubt that I would cotton to a 50′ish white woman having anything to say about anything. Nevertheless, isn’t teaching children to not litter a basic, threshold behavior of a civilized society?

A lifelong inability to look away from suffering, and witnessing it daily in this vibrant, gritty city that I love, the feeling of despair is numbingly familiar. Our culture, tolerant of extreme poverty and homeless children breeds it. If you don’t feel this perhaps you 1) have been lulled into a stupor by insipid media and synthetic “food” or;  2) have really good blinders or; 3) struggle to keep it from your consciousness.

My antidote to despair is taking action. Of the zillion thorny issues that each community faces, cooperative community diners have the potential to offer employment and nutritious affordable food in a safe gathering place, all of which would help this young man, his children and the entire neighborhood.

For more info: New Community Vision is committed to the notion that cooperative community diners, friendly, safe and affordable places to to meet, eat and mingle with your neighbors, have the potential to anchor a neighborhood and provide the the social lubricant of camaraderie. They could also create jobs and provide nourishing food.  Please contact us to cook up some diner action in your neighborhood. Comments are welcome.

Tags: children, communities, cooperatives