When Will We Ever Learn?

As I read my newspaper this week a song lyric kept coming to my mind. “Why won’t they ever learn?” I read three articles: the serious food pantry shortage, the West Virginia mine tragedy and about the recent chanting incident at East High School. The food pantry article reported that it’s been a hard year for private food pantry officials. It then went on to give a litany of reasons why this was so. Starting with acts of God, citing hurricanes and earthquakes resulting in public “donor fatigue.” It then went on to report the household “food insecurity” index which has risen thirteen percent since 1999.

The article then speculated that perhaps this food shortage was due to a “weakness in the economy” and the heating/energy crisis. As I read on I began to wonder to whom and why this news was being reported and why the reporter failed to say a word about “welfare reform” --- the federal governments retreat from the family entitlement program ---a much needed safety net for the poor children in this country.

Was the article intended to give succor or assuage the guilt of the American people for increasingly allowing the poor children of this country to go hungry and cold throughout another winter? How would this article relieve the pain and suffering of one third of our children?

It seems that now that the poor single mothers “have got their act together and have learned how to wind an alarm clock,” and now that our government has withdrawn its “handouts” that we are no longer able to blame the poor families of this country. It now seems to be in vogue to blame God and our economy. “Oh, when will we ever learn?”

Who could not feel sad and mourn for the thirteen miners who died, and the one now in a deep coma, and their families? One follow-up news article informed the reader about the upcoming investigation and speculated about the likely causes of the explosion. Here again God was called forth in the form of “lighting” and perhaps a faulty ventilation system as the most likely culprits. No mention was made of all the mining company’s safety violations or that it was a non-union company.

We were assured however that the Mine Safety and Health Administration officials were on the job and justice would be done. Not in this article, or any of the earlier articles, or on the talk shows I listened to about this incident, was it reported that this was a non-union mine. None of the miners’ families mentioned this ---probably out of fear of other family members losing their jobs. “Oh, when will we ever learn?

Finally, I read about the high school students who at a basketball game chanted “food-stamps,” “food-stamps” and how they appeared so insensitive, so out of touch, and yet, so innocent! Yes, so politically incorrect. They only knew that, yes indeed, there are two Americas! Don’t we adults contribute to such a lack of “history” when we continue to deny our country’s social problems?

I am daily amazed at how little citizens in our last two generations know about the important role the American union movement played in our country’s past. Historically, since the turn of the twentieth century, unions have fought and sacrificed for safe working conditions, a decent wage, pensions, and many more rights for workers. I have found that many people under forty also sincerely believe that the “homeless” have always been with us. The food pantry and Christmas basket is now indeed a “cherished institution” in this country. “Oh, when will we ever learn.”