It's a sign

On not one but two occasions yesterday we saw people holding up cardboard signs asking for money.

The first time was when we were exiting the Target parking lot. The woman’s sign read, “Anything helps."

The second time was when we were leaving an Apple Butter Festival at our local nature center. It may have been my imagination but the man really seemed to have a look of desperation in his eyes. His sign said, “My family’s hungry. Please.”

According to an article in yesterday’s Detroit Free Press:

• About 41,000 people statewide will likely lose cash assistance payments starting November 1.

• According to the state Department of Human Resources, 43 agencies – food banks and soup kitchens – have been cut from Emergency Services funding for the fiscal year that began October 1. Last fiscal year, they received a total of $1,261,659 in funding.

• William Long, interim executive director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan, said there has been an overall 30% decline in food help from major sources – federal, state and private.

Yet we cut taxes on rich people and businesses at the state and national levels while spending over a trillion on purposeless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and politicians beholden to Wall Street gather to make additional cuts to programs on which people rely.

I’ve been reading a lot of signs lately. There were some good ones at last Saturday’s Occupy Lansing rally, including “Out of a Job? Join the Occupation” and “I’m Here Because I Can’t Afford a Lobbyist” and “Stop Corp. Greed” and “People over Profits.”

Occupy Wall Street protesters have been photographed holding signs that say, “Screw Us and We Multiply,” “Lost My Job, Found an Occupation,” “America! Wake Up!,” “One Nation Under Greed,” “Up Against the Wall Street,” “It’s Class Warfare and We’re Losing” and one of my favorites: “Dear 1%, We Fell Asleep For a While. Just Woke Up. Sincerely, the 99%.”

You think it’s a drag to always read about the b*llsh*t going on in Lansing and Washington? Well, it’s a drag to always write about it too. But it’s also a drag to have to explain to my kids why we can’t drive around town on a sunny Sunday afternoon without seeing hungry and homeless and desperate human beings holding up signs and begging for help.

It sure would be cool if all these signs became as unnecessary as the wars we’re fighting and the games our politicians play.


Source: Detroit Free Press.