Retreating slowly with overwhelming feelings of defeat through the chilly crisp November air a frail and exhausted mother continues down a menacing volatile New York City block lugging her feeble son and vast array of infant paraphernalia to the abhorrent quarters of the Martinique hotel. Walking briskly by a group of homeless huddled around a trash can seeking solace from the piercing icy air, all the while being panhandled aggressively, approached by a persistent drug dealer, and given a threatening once over by an unkempt streetwalker the mother lets out a sigh of relief as she reaches the hallway of her hotel fumbling for her keys among her material and mental disarray. Keeping a watchful eye and tight grip over her belongings fearful of becoming victim to yet another routine robbery the door finally gives and she scrambles into the meagerly inadequate hotel room overcome with a stench of rodent urine permeating the miniature space. Utterly drained from a jam-packed day of being shuffled around to various offices filling out copious piles of paperwork in hopes that she could solidify a living space of livelihood and human dignity for her and her sickly newborn baby boy, she plopped down on the rigidly uncomfortable worn mattress. After barely a moment of duration the mother is perplexed by the docile quiver of her newborn son, feeling paralyzed by her sons cries she tends to his whimpers with the warmth of a mothers embrace. Though the baby's cries temporarily subdued the mother remains perturbed as her mind races in a desperate attempt to brainstorm a way to aid the pangs of hunger overtaking her son. A sentence no human being would wish upon even their worst of enemies remains routine to a mother named Holly a resident of the Martinique Hotel in New York City. A scene as demoralizing, futile, and grim as the latter should not be a banal exhibition of human suffering characteristic of the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. What does the tolerance of such reprehensible abject poverty pervading a nation of affluence convey about our society? What does our silence disclose about the shift in our nations philosophy, a nation previously created through principles of freedom and liberty? Is America's lack of compassion our dirty little secret? With a social problem evolving into such a widespread issue plaguing such a prosperous nation it leads citizens to become skeptical of a societal structure that perpetuates such a morose reality.
This week Social Justice League's 4th Annual Tent City is ongoing at Bridgewater State University, they are accepting donations please stop by around Bridgewater's campus behind the Rondileau Campus Center to support a homelessness simulation in solidarity with the above described grave predicament. Read about the initiative with the following link!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment