Human Rights Day/Bringin It All Back Home
Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 02:57PM Human Rights Day : Bringin It All Back Home
Peaceable Kingdom 1/Detail-Richard Meyers
Article 25/United Nations Declaration of Human Rights:
1.Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family,including food,clothing,housing and medical care and necessary social services,and the right to security in the event of unemployment,sickness,disability,widowhood,old age or the lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
2. Motherhood and children are entitled to special care and assistance. All children,whether born in or out of wedlock,shall enjoy the same social protection.
There are two children I know here (ages 8 and 10) in the desert who, through no fault of their own,often go hungry every day and have fallen through the cracks. The parents are living on the edge due to serious psychological problems,drug and alcohol use, and ,in the case of the father,no work. The dad had marginal work in construction but now with a reported 15,000 people in construction laid off in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, has no chance and ultimately landed in jail for stealing. Once this spiral starts downward, it is almost impossible to stop.
The mom has “used up her credit “ with welfare and while there’s some help available through County Mental Health, she won’t go into the program because she won’t quit drinking. Social Services/Foster Care is massively overloaded and no one wants to involve them because of the endless horror stories in THAT system.
The kids get to live in a trailer in the middle of nowhere with no running water or power. It’s extraordinarily hot in the low desert summer and it gets cold in winter. They just now are going to school on the bus,but are far behind and are also now so unsocialized, that it’s hard to see how they will ever catch up.
I could tell you this same story with few changes over and over again, because hundreds of children are living just like this,in Riverside County alone. 70 percent of children in the Coachella Valley are eligible for the school lunch program (which has had big cutbacks). More than 80 percent of all children in the Valley live at or below the poverty line.
What makes this stand out in such high relief, is that this area is one of the wealthiest in the United States (and therefore the world). The wealthy live behind walls in country clubs and throw charity benefits through which they then further promote themselves in glossy publications.
Last year, after a record freeze which threw many farmworkers out of work (grapes, citrus), there was a near riot when Hidden Harvest tried to distribute diapers and baby formula in the East Valley. The founder,Christy Porter, a remarkable,determined woman,said that it was hard to believe this was happening here when it would be so easy to help. Hidden Harvest organizes gleaning of what gets left behind after the main harvesting of crops. They provide food this way for thousands monthly as well as area food banks.
Also, while I’m impressed with the concept and work of organizations like TED, I question the $3000.00 plus conference fees where those who need to attend the most to mingle with, visionary,powerful people, will rarely have the opportunity. The same applies to the Tech community which is largely self referential.
We don’t need more words thrown at the “problem”. We know what the answers are and they boil down to less greed and selfishness and more action and neighborliness.
Neighborliness also means giving without personal agendas ,religious or otherwise. There should be no barrier ,gatekeeper passing judgement. Need is need. People should not have to jump through hoops when they’re in need. There is enough to go around. What’s scarce is this sense of one human family.
It’s hard to be a neighbor to a starving kid when you’re behind a wall. They’re your neighbours anyway. They are your family too.
“None of us are free while one of us is in chains, none of us are free”
How hard is this to understand ? It’s human to human. It’s not happening in a far away place but in your own back yard. Start there.
And I’d say to the phenomenal brainpower represented in the tech communities: The great social justice movements like civil rights were fueled out of NEED. Those who participated had no choice and it was not about preserving their lifestyles first and then maybe helping out when convenient.
It was simply the right thing to do. The right thing to do for the human family and for the long run.
This is the type of selfless commitment needed to drive the social change movements of our time. The solutions come from learning what is needed by being involved as if somebody’s life depended on it. Because it does.
Think about things like access to this technology: What can you do to ensure that there is equal access ? What kinds of applications can you develop that will address our common humanity?
Move out of the comfort zone. Change the way things are done. Go beyond “conventional wisdom.”
It really starts with each one of us and is simple: How much do you need ? Can you help someone starting today? How about taking on just one situation like the one I've described (and it won't be hard to find) and seeing it through, come what may ?
Remember: We don’t take it with us when we go. We can leave it better than we found it though. It is so easy to give and we all have so much to give.
Humanism
Reader Comments (4)
Thank you for your kind words all round. Let us know more about the artists' retreat/residence ctr...always interested. Maybe with the collapse of structures we are seeing and the shift of awareness happening as a result , we will be able to take this as an opportunity to really make arts & artists of service to our communities;An integral part. We have the kind of toolkits needed.
I'm trying to build that world/network up in the "cognosphere" online & "bring it all home" to ground here in the Coachella Valley. The Valley is a microcosm and is as good an example as we're going to get of what is so terribly wrong with the current dominant values.
Thanks again for taking the time to visit here. The 2000 pixel main page image is intentional as a way to get closer to the painter's hand and slow down enough to take it in ! It's a huge painting. Also shows that every square inch of the painting is a world unto itself and hangs together on its own,but that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts as well. (someone said that here a few months back)...Unity...that reflects what we're going for with humanity.
Best,
Liz