Someplace Like America

Response 3

08/31/2011

Someplace Like America

                All Americans have a different perception on the values they hold in their own home country.  Is our government really corrupt?  Is the food industry really poisoning us?  Are the homeless and needy really that way because they have no choice, or because they feel sorry for themselves?  We all have tough questions that we want answered, but unfortunately there are no cut and dry answers.  There are professionals on either side of the coin that will argue their own point-of-view.  I would like to discuss some statistics that will show that we are upon difficult times in our society.

                There are more people homeless in our home country than most of us choose to acknowledge.  We have grown deaf or numb to the astonishing statistics, either way we find it bliss to live without fully comprehending others struggles.  In 2010 the New York Times produced an article about homelessness and one part reads, “The Bloomberg administration said Friday that the number of people living on New York’s streets and subways soared 34 percent in a year”.  Think about this for a minute, it doesn’t say New York is 34% homeless, but rather the homeless people rose by 34%.  In any case these statistics are incredible.

                Are people really going hungry in our country?  How can this be true when we produce more food for cheaper than any other country in the world?  According to Worldhunger.org, “In 2008, 17 million households, 14.6 percent of households (approximately one in seven), were food insecure, the highest number ever recorded in the United States.”  This doesn’t make sense.  If I go and sit at the park with my kids I can be sure that one out of every ten people I see enjoying their afternoon are going home hungry.  This is phenomenal! 

                Of these people that are hungry without enough food to eat, how many are also stricken with food poisoning on top of it?  Our government isn’t observing our food production as much as they should be.  We like to think that just because it is FDA approved that its safe, but really the FDA is in bed with companies like Monsanto and Con Agra.  This is for a whole other paper, but for now I’d like to share one more statistic with you.   The New York Times in published an article in 2010 stating, “According to the new estimate, about 48 million people get sick and more than 3,000 die each year from food poisoning in the United States.”

Just in this little paper we have outrageous statistics on homelessness, hunger and food poisoning.  Yes people it is true our country is falling apart.  One single person can’t change the world, but we can change how we do things in our own home, influence others, and become a shining beacon to those in distress.

Bosman, Julie. "Number of People Living on New York Streets Soars." The New York Times. N.p., 19 Mar. 2010. Web. 31 Aug. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/nyregion/20homeless.html?ref=homelesspersons>.

"Food Safety." The New York Times. N.p., 20 Dec. 2010. Web. 31 Aug. 2011. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/food_safety/index.html>.

"Hunger in America: 2011 United States Hunger and Poverty Facts ." World Hunger.org. N.p., 2011. Web. 31 Aug. 2011. <http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/us_hunger_facts.htm>.