How society perceives the poor and unemployed

While I was studying history at the University of Lethbridge from 1993 to 1996, I learned unforgettable details about the society in which we all live from intelligent and thought-provoking professors whose presence I happily encounter in our community. One of the details in mind is that we discussed the ways that people used to assess whether the poor were perceived as deserving or undeserving in their states of deprivation and lack of resources.

As credit is readily accessible in our times, it is easy to appear as if one is quite well off. However, the debt-to-income ratio is quite a different story! Not everyone who is homeless among us is a drug addict or alcoholic, as recently portrayed on the news. Some people become homeless because they unexpectedly lose a job and are unable to find another soon enough to make the next mortgage or rent payment. It is true that some people, even those in a higher income bracket, live payday to payday. Moreover, for those who are told to “get a job” this desire is not always so easily fulfilled.

During my professional life so far, I could certainly write a book about my varied experiences. There was one place where a long-term employee told her boss that if he hired a particular job applicant, she would subsequently quit: this is one example of power being asserted to command loss of a potential opportunity for another person. Power and influence exist everywhere in our world. This is when I ask: Does anyone deserve to live a life defined by lost opportunities and quenched potential?

I have an idea for those who buy more groceries than needed only to throw them out before the next stop at the store: why not limit your purchases to what you will eat and donate the difference to the food bank?

Lastly, I do think that needles should stay at the safe injection site. While I abhor the idea of alcohol and drug abuse, it is irresponsible to leave needles at will in our community.

Rose-Marie Nyberg

Lethbridge