Posted by: Tina W.
The children in the video below aren't skin and bones, but that doesn't mean they aren't suffering.
True, they don't live in shelters or in boxes on the street, but many of them sleep on a neighbors floor at night.
Every one of them admits to sometimes having to study by candlelight when the electric company shuts the
lights off. Sometimes, they say, they cant sleep because there empty stomach is growling in pain. One little
girl recalls the embarrassment she feels when she has to ask friends for leftovers.
Of the 35.5 million Americans that go struggle with hunger everyday, 12.5 million are
children. While America is not by any means the most hungry country in the world, it is the only country
where the hunger rates are getting worse instead of improving. I myself work in a grocery store where I see
the amount of food stamps being used steadily increase. No doubt that it is the tough economy and loss of
jobs that is pushing these previously cash buyers below the poverty level. I find that the people i know as
regulars are normally embarrassed, often offering up explanations as to why they are now on welfare. Top
reasons are typical (jobs, economy, sickness) and i wasn't surprised to recently learn that Philadelphia is the
second most hungry of the major cities.
While every member of a family in poverty suffers, its hard to argue that a child suffers the worse. A
child cannot sleep at night when there stomach hurts, or pay attention the next day in school when they are
hungry and sleep deprived. Poor nutrition now will effect there health for the rest of there lives.Childhood
hunger causes emotional and behavioral problems, and limits social development. Children who live in homes
where finances cause a stressful environment will exhibit poor concentration, which will limit success in
school. Limited success in school, as we all know, usualy means limited success in life.
The video below is admitiidley a little long, but its a great chronicling of what nations hungry children
deal with every day and watching it will give you a greater understanding of what its like. Although,
statiscicly, you probably already do.
Tina I really like your post, because you talk about a serious problem that a lot of poor children are going thru in America. I think that these poor kids living in poverty go thru a lot of pain and suffering, since they are going to bed hungry. In a way these children are being tortured by hunger. What really makes me sad is that we live in the RICHEST country in the world where some people are making millions each year, yet these kids in poverty don’t have food to eat. This just shows how selfish and inconsiderate some people in our society is.
ReplyDeleteSteven Pate said...
ReplyDeleteI think something should be done to address this situation of children w/o proper nourishment. The goverment is always raisng taxes for this and that and people are always complaining but if the bureaucrat woulg focus ther time and energy on this issue it can be resolved The government created a program called the war on drug but how successful was that. If an account and balance was done on wasted goverment spending I'm pretty sure the necessary fund could be found to address this situation Children are suffering due to a lack of proper food. This is a travesty.I always felt that children are our future and we need to save them in the present inorder to have a future.
Tina, i absolutely love your post. It brings up so many emotions in me that it was difficult to stay objective. I have been working with homeless youth for years and the severity of homelessness and malnutrtion for our children seems to be ignored. In my own experiences, it feels as though people do not want to believe that this actually true. It then negates them from any responsibiblty as a society to help ammend the problem. What gets to me the most is the children taking on the perspective that somehow this is their fault, that they are the problem, when in all actuality it is a larger, societal issue. With children feeling this way it most definately affects their self esteem, perserverance, and overall mental health. As they grow older and continue generations the problems persist. Where do we begin? Knowledge truely is power and I believe that exposing society to a truth opens doors for discussions, but then what?
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