Scores of people persistently keep reminding me that we only have a fraction of time left before we pull into Maine, so I'll put my faith in those numbers. Yet, despite what seems like a lifetime ago since we set out onto the paved ice of January, I do recollect a moment after about a couple of months into this trip where I was contemplating our mission while walking on a random sidewalk. I realized that the task of trying to eliminate the epidemic of hunger couldn't be simply boiled down to one solid universal answer to treat the ill effects. To tackle such a mind fumblingly monstrous problem, all avenues like affordable housing, efficient energy, job security, and many other factors have to be attacked with the same fervor and commitment as is being afforded to hunger. That's good, I say to myself.
An hour later, though, I'm still meandering down the street aimless, still brainstorming for something that is festering. What is it? For what seems like countless days I've wrestled with this thought process as we trudged on through the states, meeting wonderful people with fantastic ideas that could certainly be utilized back in Maine, yet that thought continued to nag at me. I continually fought with how to word it in a way that didn't de value the work being put into ending hunger, yet at the same time highlighting the reality of tackling only one aspect of the big picture. Then, in a laughably cliche chain of events, this all came to a head in a combination of picking up a copy of the Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy, a gauging of a food bank associate's views on the futility of the work he is doing, and an enlightened discussion with a food pantry operator who understood the intricate issue of tackling more than just hunger to help bring his clientele out of their poverty slump.
If you've ever read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you'll no doubt remember the sensational punch line of the big question that is asked in that book which is, "What is the answer to life and everything?" The odd answer to this wholly broad question is the number 42, and after reading that segment something clicked in my brain. For those who constantly ask that question of what is the definitive solution to ending hunger, I'd like to refer them to this part of the book, because it highlights the single minded track that people tend to follow down, as if everything in life is clear cut and part of a formula. In reality, when combating something like hunger, it's important to realize that regarding the problem as something that is paint by numbers is ultimately not only disheartening when it doesn't turn out positively, but also unrealistic in its lack of acknowledgment of the complexities of the world in which we live in.
When we visited the 2nd Harvest in Portland, we ran across a situation that was all too familiar. This food distribution center is headed by Drew Meuer and is pulling off a staggering job of providing food for the numerous counties in and around the state. The range that they travel is a record in itself, and the facility is in a league of its own. We talk for a bit and are given a tour, and we see the fruits of their labor. And yet, with all this going on, there is this lingering question that keeps jabbing away in my mind, and eventually I turn to our Drew and ask him if he thinks if there is an air of futility around the whole affair, what with the still increasing food insecurity problem and decreasing resources. In response, his exacerbation comes forth as he vents about the constant struggle and how even to this day he struggles to come up with a definitive answer. For me, it's a sobering sight to see that wall come down and see a compassionate person like Drew become sort of disenchanted by the whole affair. It takes a toll on him, and he doesn't see any definitive solution. It's a reaction that comes to mind as we make our way to Idaho.
Mark Haberman of the Community Action Partnership in Idaho is a man with realistic ambitions. Per usual with people we meet for the first time, we exchange stories about what we've seen and experienced. Once the formalities were out of the way, however, Mark treated us with a spilling of his thoughts and his experiences in the field of helping out the impoverished.
"Our charge from the very beginning was to work on the causes, and conditions of poverty," he started out.
"We serve people that will probably always have some need of us; people who are either elderly and have lived beyond their ability to really create more income, don't have family, disabled, and folks who are just really deeply caught in generational poverty, who just really don't see a way out, haven't found a way out."
After saying this, perhaps the most important quote that I've come across from someone working in this field came to light.
"...We recognize that direct service, whether it be food, help with home heating, home weatherization, all of that, in and of itself, does not have the capacity to move a person out of poverty."
Mark's words from the start further emphasize how there needs to be a more sound foundation in understanding the plight of the impoverished. A priceless resource for Mark stems from an author named Ruby Payne, a woman who married a man from generational poverty, and her insight leaves a lasting impression.
"She married a man who was from generational poverty, and she pretty quickly came to understand that they view the world in very different ways, and they functioned in the world in very different ways; not because she was better than her husband, or he was less than she...there is a kind of non biological DNA, that we are kinda wired with. Whether it's issues around culture, or economics, we talk a lot about economic diversity, that just wires us with a certain way of understanding and living in the world."
"If I want to get to another economic sort of experience, from being under resourced, (in poverty), to middle class... that maybe just beyond my reach, and so if I want to get there, I'm going to want to work to shift kinda the way that I am a part of the world, or all of my piece meal efforts, in and of itself, will not get me there."
"Some people have never had the opportunity to dream about tomorrow, because it's always today's flat tire, today's sick kids...if someone is well resourced, those resources help us remove barriers...and we realize that that's just not true for a lot of folks...poverty removes the capacity for a future story."
So what happens when a person in such a situation makes it into the job market, and yet is not prepared for such an alienating environment? It's really a mind numbing shift for a lot of people who are struggling with employers who do not understand their constant daily battle, and especially for those trying to find out that secret formula that will bring them out into progress.
"One of the big, big things is the knowledge of hidden rules...and that's essentially the set of constructs: this is the life I want, here's what that life looks like, and here are ways that it will be helpful for me to re path my thinking to get to that life I want."
So, with that knowledge in mind, now it's a matter of reaching the employers. It's absolutely imperative that they are incorporated into the dialogue to engross them in their employees' situations.
"This is what some of your employees are experiencing. What's the outcome of that? It doesn't mean that they change their standards, and it doesn't mean that they change their expectations for their employees, who are maybe under resourced, BUT, rather than a 'You're written up, you're written up, you're fired', maybe it's a, 'how does that become a coachable moment?"
Eventually, the conversation turned towards the typical things one is used to hearing from more well off people, who question the choices and actions of the impoverished. Even I have had moments where I judge the intentions and material purchases of the impoverished, and yet what Mark said next was spot on with a gut feeling of mine for a while.
"Here's why someone who is under resourced would have a big screen TV; a primary value in middle class, a primary value is achievement...Where are you going to college? What's your career track going to be? Where are you gonna retire? Where's your kid going to go to college? Achievement is just woven into the very fiber of who most middle class people are. And, in poverty, it's relationship and entertainment. That's the primary driving force. And why? At the end of the day, it's just one day of struggle one after the next after the next after the next, and personality is a big thing, connecting personally with one another, entertaining one another...just plain entertainment, you know? ' I'm just gonna kick back.' at the end of the day."
With so much information swirling around my head at this point, I can't even manage the struggle Mark has endured for most of his career, and yet with each word I can tell that his enthusiasm and fervor for making a difference is unwavering.
"Integrity and trust: we can work to build that. That doesn't cost a nickel."
"Will we end poverty in Cour Da alene, before I retire in 12 years? Probably not. Can we bring about change at the community level, at the family level? I think we can. We can, and we need to want to do it."
Since the start of this journey I've always held the belief that this nationwide epidemic can only be potentially remedied when it is attacked at a political level, where all the bureaucratic red tape and beating around the bush is blocking any sort of permanent progress.
"We need to develop some political backbone, too. You know, we can't lobby, because we receive federal funds, but public policy does not support the under resourced person, it just doesn't. The tax code, in my opinion, doesn't...we can educate, we can't lobby."
But, most importantly, at the root of the problem, the very core of this inflamed turmoil, is the complacency of those who are without struggle of this magnitude, and especially those who have the means to permanently mend the lives of their fellow impoverished man. Across the nation there is unified cry for equality and prosperity that is being stifled through the gag that is the disfigured American Values.
"We need to change the mindset of the community. We need to help people find a voice; those who struggle are without voice, usually. And that voice needs to be a voice that's unified, that has people of all income levels saying that this just isn't right."
There's a duality to everything we struggle with in life, and this is no different. Where will that spark come forth? Who knows, really? Maybe in Mark Haberman's lifetime, or perhaps in mine. All I know is that I am changed because of his words, and that allows me to spread that word across the digital ether, in hopes that it will reach somebody who genuinely cares.
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