JANUARY
30,
2001 |
Oswego,
NY
|
What
does a person deserve?
By
LYNETTE ABEL
In recent months, there have been more
and more articles documenting
the shameful, growing existence of hunger across
our nation, and the dependence
of families on soup kitchens and food pantries.
As a native of
Syracuse and a fellow
human being, I was deeply affected to read
online in the Herald-Journal
of Jan. 8, the article "Need for Food Is Up In
CNY and Nationwide," by
Frank Brieaddy. He reports that "the
demand for food has grown in
a way never imagined by the people who launched
pantry operations two decades
ago."
It is an outrage,
and a national disgrace,
that an American man, Arthur Johnson--who stands
for many others--after
a lifetime of hard work and no longer being able
to work "has nothing but
a bare apartment--not a stick of furniture, not
even a stove or refrigerator,"
and has to search out food in an area pantry,
where the amount he receives
is regulated.
I respect the
persons working to have
food gets to the people who need it, but a
person should not have to endure
indignities in order to secure basic human
rights to which every person
is entitled.
In the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights
adopted in 1948 by the United Nations, and
signed by the U.S., Article
25 states: "Everyone has the right to a standard
of living adequate for
the health and well-being of himself and of his
family, including food,
clothing, housing and medical care."
I want Central
New Yorkers and people
throughout our nation to know what Eli
Siegel, economist, historian, and founder
of the education Aesthetic
Realism, explained: The only reason there is
hunger and poverty in our
country is because of contempt for people that
is at the basis of our American
economy, the profit system.
He defined
contempt as "the addition
to self through the lessening of something
else." In our unjust
economy, the profits made from the work of some
people—many paid as little
as possible—go into the pockets of
others--owners and stockholders, who
did not earn them.
That is why certain
people are extraordinarily
wealthy and others who work two or three jobs
don't make enough money to
afford even the most basic human needs.
Said Siegel: "Only
contempt could permit a man to make money from
the work of another--as
man has done these hundreds of years."
That is why some families
have to agonize between feeding their children
breakfast or skipping it
so they will be able to pay their rent.
"While any child
needs something he
hasn't got," Siegel stated, "the profit system
is a failure." It
is rather clear that an economy that is truly
successful has to benefit
all
of the American people.
In the
international journal, The
Right of Aesthetic Realism to Be Known,
the Class Chairman of Aesthetic
Realism, Ellen
Reiss, with logic and passionate feeling,
describes the accurate, just
relation of our abundant American earth to its
citizens:
“As corn is in a Kansas field in
summer, with the sun hot on
it; as Texas earth is rich with oil; as glowing
oranges of California grow
and people pick them with aching fingers and get
so little for their labor—to
whom should these belong? A little child in
Harlem is going to bed hungry
while somewhere in America there are cows ready
with milk that won't get
to that child. And the child wants that
milk and deserves it.
That child is, with her fellow citizens, the
rightful owner of that Kansas
corn and Texas oil and those California
oranges.”
For our economy to
ensure the well-being
of all men, women, and children, this beautiful,
ethical question first
asked by Siegel needs to be answered honestly by
people everywhere--in
businesses, in homes, and in government offices:
"What does a person deserve
by being alive?"
This crucial question is
the basis for the
powerful public service film on homelessness and
hunger titled "What Does
a Person Deserve?" produced by Emmy Award-winning
filmmaker, Ken
Kimmelman. It was featured at the
Washington, D.C. summit of
the National Coalition for the Homeless and is now
being aired on television
stations throughout the U.S. and abroad.
The way Aesthetic
Realism sees economics
is needed, practical, and beautiful.
To learn more, contact the not-for-profit
Aesthetic Realism Foundation,
141 Greene St., NY, NY; (212) 777-4490; AestheticRealism.org.
Lynette Abel is a freelance writer, and a
Consultations Coordinator
at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation.
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