Rachel and her Children essay Essay Example for Free

Rachel and her Children essay EssayWe see them almost all over We can hear them around the corner, and we see their shadow from far away. We separate forth to avoid looking straightaway into their eyes, and we pre unravel we did not hear them when they talk to us. We walk around the block to avoid them, and walk fast-paced to leave them behind. These stack that we consider to be invisible are actually homeless person human existences. Homelessness in America remains an issue of deep match in the 21st century. Without a permanent roof over their head, these community seek refuge in various places much(prenominal) as homeless shelters and camp out cities. If they are privileged they will find a safe place to stay the night. The less fortunate ones are forced to spend their night in public places that are unsafe and unfit to residue in. Although homelessness is not a new issue to write about, in Rachel and her children, Jonathan Kozol brings us into an entirely new w orld.A world where the homeless are not barely figures with hands held out asking for cease change. He brings us into the lives of these homeless story by story case by case sharing his individual(prenominal) interviews with these unfortunate raft. What Kozol describes deeply in the bear throughout true incredible stories goes beyond our expectation. Especially in chapter 5, Distancing ourselves from pain and tears which is one of the center of the book, the author raises more concern about our attitudes toward poor homeless people. What Kozol essence by distancing in the chapter is that people do really care about homelessness. They do reckon and feel guilty about what homeless people are suffering day by day. Because of the guiltiness, they pronounce to create a distance by themselves to ignore the responsibility for these homeless people.Instead of blaming the reckless heedlessness of the governments welfare system, people end up blaming homelessness for creating their o wn destitution. In some ways, it is sure as shooting that most Americans would have a certain enhanced sympathy toward homeless people. However, not many of us do truly care about them, want to cognise what the story is behind them becoming homeless, and try to help them get out of their dark side. We do have compassion, but our compassion is not cock-a-hoop enough to connect us closer to homeless people. Even though we feel very problematical whenever we hear about the poor people, every one of us does have a distance ourselves from homelessness.The startle thing that come to my mind and other peoples when thinking about homeless people is that all of them are panhandlers, those who are mentally unstable, and victims of dumping by greedy hospital or do drugs addiction. Last summer I came to visit my friend who lives in downtown San Francisco. As I was paseo down to the bus rate, I remember passing an old homeless woman who was asking people for notes at the corner of the st ation. Being careful not to touch her, I dropped a fewer spare coins in his hand. Automatically assuming that the money I gave her would be used for drugs or alcohol, I looked upon her with contempt. After reading this book, I understand that the woman I saw at the corner of the station could have, at one beat, been just like me. Even though being a little soaring of just doing something good, I found that I (as well as other people) fail to create a distance from homelessness.At the beginning, Kozol opens his book with the story of sitez and Megan who are living in the Martique homeless shelter. onwards ending up being homeless, they had a happy purport with their five children. Peter did plumbing and carpentry. He was also a contributing and working. After a fire destroyed the house and all of Peters collection of tools he had built up for years, Peters family had to struggle in the Martique. By opening with this story, Kozol gives the readers a new vision of homeless peopl e. Stereotypes of the homeless as individuals struggling with mental wellness issues or substance addictions no longer hold. They used to be normal members in the society just like us, but for some reasons cause them to become destitute.Kozols book documents how many homeless were recently employed, cast into homelessness by financial misfortune such as ongoing unemployment, staggering medical bills or medical disabilities. Many homeless people are in their existing condition of living on the streets because of being born poor, while many other homeless people used to have money, fame and berth before but lost it all in some big personal or outer event. We have never thought what lead those people into their dark sides. We are too hasty to put everyone into the same category. Because of that failure in thinking, we naturally build an invisible distance that separates us from homeless people. there are hundreds of business organizations which could be called typical of human need s existing inside of us such as going broke, foreclosure on house, humiliation from public speaking, running out of food, or major disasters. However, a life that is financially is unsecure, and in a depressed economy, the fear of being homeless seems to be considered as the biggest concern for human beings. For those who have been homeless and are now off the street, generally they promise themselves never to allow that happen again. Many people now fear being homeless who are close to foreclosure. in like manner many people bought at the top of the market or re-financed with variable rate deals. Therefore, this fear of being homeless is a real fear.When people are scared of something so much that they cannot face it, they tend to ignore it in order to release the fear that they are going through. We all know that homelessness tranquil exists. We also know that that the number of people who stay in the street as their home, lack of food, trill because of cold, and carry on so m any disease is increasingly higher in every states of the U.S. Since we fear of being homeless, we try to disregard the existence of homelessness. We even blame homeless people for creating their own situation. In order to push away our own nightmare, we unintentionally create the distance between ourselves and homelessness.not only do we eliminate our nightmare by blaming the homeless people but also we postpone our responsibility by making an excuse that there is no quick fix for erasing homelessness in America. That means people who are living in the street have to wait a long time to get a house. Most of us usually think that we already gave a hand for support homelessness by the tax we pay to the government every year, and that the government themselves have had programs for low-income Americans. However, we do not know that the money the government gives up to help poor people is just over a tenth of the federal reckon (131).Yet, that ten percent of the budget was cut into one third by the Reagan budget cuts. In other words, when that amount of money reaches to the homeless people, it means nothing. The question here is What is the rest of the money gone instead of using to help homeless? The rest of billions of dollars is used for national defense such as military, weapons, and so-called wars Without knowing this, we blame homeless people for creating their own destitution instead of the government.The book Rachel and her children incredibly tells stories of homeless people. Each person has his or her own different circumstances, but generally these people used to have the same normal live before they became homeless. Many of us would sympathize with homeless people on the street, but only few truly want to help them get out of their extreme circumstances. In some ways, we still draw ourselves a distance from homelessness either because of our guiltiness or our own fear of being homeless one day. When we confidently give up our little spare coins to homeless people without worrying if they are used for drugs or alcohol, that is when we little by little cancel out our distance and get closer to these poor homeless human beings.View as multi-pages