Barbara Bush, the former first lady and mother of our current president, recently commented about victims of Hurricane Katrina.
She said, “Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them.”
Apparently, being displaced from your home can work “very well” for you-if you were already poor to begin with.
This comment, though well meaning, only goes to illustrate part of the growing misunderstanding between the rich and the poor in America.
For a long time, there has been a misconception of what poor people want and need.
Realistically, people want opportunities. The sad fact is that it takes money to buy opportunities.
The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina displays that money bought the opportunity and the means for people to evacuate.
Those with money were able to buy plane tickets, check into hotels-get far away from the destruction.
Those without money were forced to remain with their homes, despite the looming disaster.
So what do the poor want?
Those with money tend to have no idea. The sad thing is how dominant the concept of the welfare mother still is-how people still believe that there are women out there who have babies just so they can stay on welfare.
Former NBA great Charles Barkley was commenting at a relief game benefiting the victims of Hurricane Katrina when he remarked that the hurricane illustrated why education was so important. Obviously enough, people who become educated get better jobs.
This is an example of where poor people do not want handouts, but they do want opportunities.
Only 6 percent of children from my parents’ income bracket graduate from college with a bachelor’s degree.
People tend not to look at the reason why this number is so low. They tend not to think about how tuition here at the U has increased 50 percent in the last five years while Pell Grants have remained the same-and the U is a relatively inexpensive school.
I admit that if I had to evacuate from Salt Lake City, and I didn’t have a relative to stay with, I might be able to afford a week of lodging, food and travel.
Maybe a week.
It’s frightening to realize how close to the edge many of us live-how one disaster could knock us right off.
I’m attending this school and working my way toward a higher education, higher-paying job and greater opportunity.
Unfortunately, not everyone in this country can say the same thing.
The people of this country, or at least this university, need to rethink how we view the poor. We need to figure out what they need and want and then figure out how we can help.
