From Deseret News archives:
Utah's poor are often invisible, ignored
The advocates for the poor, such as the Crossroads Urban Center, Utahns Against Hunger and others are also to be commended for being the conscience of our community.
The poor will always be with us. That's what I learned as a kid listening to Sister Sophia in my catechism classes at the Guadalupe Mission. I suspect it's something many of us learned from our religious teachings. As I grew up, poor people were all around me and included some of us. It was just assumed that we would look after one another.
And though the poor are still with us, Utah's urban cities follow the trend of those around the country of flight to the suburbs, leaving the poor to struggle to survive in our deteriorating inner cities. They are often the elderly, the physically and emotionally disabled and single-parent families. Unlike the past, many Utahns now have limited contact with poor people and thus find little opportunity to have empathy for their plight.
Poverty has been described as that situation where one has to depend on others for the things we take for granted for our daily subsistence. In our complex and impersonal society, we often don't take the time to reach out to help those in need; rather, we have created bureaucracies, both public and nonprofit, to show our charitable side. It is those organizations the poor must negotiate with for services.
Our elected officials can show the public the challenges the poor face in living on food stamps for a week, and when it's over they will be able to move on with their lives; for them, there is a future. What may be most difficult for the public to understand is that for many of the poor, there is no hope, and that is demoralizing.
Comments
- Snowy roads cause accidents, delays 4:20 p.m.
- Woman charged in identity theft case 4:06 p.m.
- Kentucky edges UNC 68-66 3:26 p.m.
- Chelsea's lead trimmed after loss 3:24 p.m.
- Russian nightclub fire kills 107 3:19 p.m.
- Kurt Bestor: Joy for the world 3:02 p.m.
- School drops required fitness class 2:55 p.m.
- 2 people, 43 horses dead in barn fire 2:47 p.m.
- New Kurosawa DVD gift set 2:19 p.m.
- Baucus: Girlfriend merited post 2:09 p.m.
- Why is Y. ignoring spew of hatred?
302 - BYU says Hall incident resolved
247 - Letters: Liberal because LDS
245 - 2 citations issued at Y.-U. game
189 - Hate not limited to 1 in-state rivalry
188 - Aggies shoot past Cougars
179 - Y. profs: Beck not all-knowing
164 - N.Y. Senate rejects gay marriage
127 - Max Hall: a fixture in rivalry lore
118 - Unbeaten BYU takes trip to Logan
105
First, a big thank you to all who posted questions here for me to ask...
American Indians are the ones who were hurt by Europes invasion of America....
" The cougars are rising and shouting and won't be stopped by TCU team that...
Well the snow is here, let's drive faster.
"God is Spirit"(Theos pnuema)(John4:24 Greek N.T.) "For a Spirit hath not...
It amazes me to read the comments from readers offended at the "extremist"...
I agree with "nice to see." Religion should endorse sexual liberty, rather...
Medical and dental services have become so unreasonably expensive that I go...
How is LES a tough place to play? You got spanked twice this season there...
CJ Miles is not good. I like Korver better than him. Korver is slow and can...
you all need to chill. the team is coming together. we can benifit from...


You can be the first to comment on this story.