Was it really only ten years ago that Americans stood in lines for hours just to donate blood? Was there really a time when people stood shoulder to shoulder and sang "God Bless the U.S.A.?" Did we really, in our neighbors' time of need, rush to pray for each other, to comfort each other, and did we truly line up at Metropolitan Ministries and The Salvation Army to donate clothes, food, and creature comforts to those in need?
Do you remember?
Perhaps the only positive outcome of the 9/11 tragedy was that Americans of all ages, races, political parties, and socioeconomic statuses stood together in the aftermath. People dropped whatever they were doing and rushed to help heal the injured, comfort the grieving, and rescue those who were stranded or buried in debris. For a moment that will be forever frozen in time, the arrival of a common enemy moved people to reach out and support each other without regard to petty differences.
This begs the question.... What happened?
As quickly as a common enemy will unite people, competition for scarce resources will just as swiftly divide them. One of the most highly sought-after scarcities in Hernando County? JOBS. And of course, without being in possession of this resource, one cannot provide food, shelter, health care, or even a decent education, whether for oneself or one's family.
The unemployment rate in Hernando County was estimated at nearly 14% in July 2011, making it one of the highest in the state. Such high unemployment led to over 5,300 home foreclosures in 2010. Since education is funded by property taxes, revenue for educational funding has dropped considerably, leading to fewer resources available to students. This, of course, comes at a time when more funding is needed to offset academic iniquity. While Florida's high school graduation rate is below the national average in the first place, Hernando County's is particularly low, at approximately 65%.
There is little doubt: The 9/11 attacks have left deep scars in all of us, particularly children who grew up in the early 2000's. But our reaction to that nightmare taught children, if anything, how to join together to overcome adversity. Children growing up in The Great Recession, which began in 2007, are not getting this message. They are growing up in a society that says not, "all for one and one for all," but instead, "all for me and none for you." They are learning to judge people according to how much money they have. They are learning to "look out for number one" instead of "look out for each other." The homeless man on the side of the street is not down on his luck. He is a lazy, worthless mooch looking for a handout. The widow trying to provide for three children is not a working mother, she is a drug-addict and a whore. The kid that sits in the back row in history class, the one that has been wearing the same shoes for two years, is just some loser with no fashion sense.
Prejudice against the lower income classes is not only a reality, it is encouraged. If you are fortunate enough to have a job in this economy, it's because you are smart, hard-working, resourceful, and dedicated. After all, when there's a will, there's a way, right? (Please feel free to insert your own favorite cliché here.) The natural assumption, then, is that anyone who is not fortunate enough to find a job, who is not able to make payments on his house, who is not able to provide for his kids, is lazy, irresponsible, and altogether worthless. He needs to go occupy a desk. He needs to make a job instead of wait for a job. He needs to stop making excuses for himself.
No one stopped to ask him what his story is. No one knows that his unemployed sister committed suicide. No one knows that his wife is dying of a curable disease because she has no medical insurance. No one knows that he has applied for over 300 jobs and is facing home foreclosure. No one knows that he is forced to make the choice between paying for gas to get to a job interview and feeding his son dinner. No one knows, because no one has bothered to ask.
So what are we teaching our children? What is the true legacy of The Great Recession? Self-absorption. Judgment. Animosity. And the ever-widening net of prejudice. Compassion is for the weak; only the strong survive.
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