Tag Archives: Poverty

Random Thoughts

Random Thoughts 11-14-2022

2 Comments

What is behind all this violence we have been witnessing on the news as of late? School shootings, Political unrest, and attacks on political figures and their family along with murders across the nation and the world? Why has it come down to violence and what can we do to bring things back to a more peaceful world are the questions I ask myself and everyone I talk with.

Some violence is fueled by political extremism but the majority I believe is done by individuals with either an unhappy life situation or someone with mental and/or emotional problems. There is also the financial inequity and inequality that plays into the mix as well. Seems many younger people are unhappy, depressed, or feel as if they are being oppressed and they tend to focus all that unhappiness and rage on a person or place that brought them some sort of traumatic experience such as being bullied, feeling left out, or unwanted.

Shooting up a school or university is not going to solve any problems and usually winds up ending the life of many innocent people along with the troubled individual committing the act of violence. I think they know it won’t solve their problem but they get to the point of desperation and just want to lash out and go down in a blaze of some sort of twisted glory or something. It is hard for others to really know what they were thinking and what motivation they may have had.

Seems that we need more focus on the mental and emotional well-being of our youth, if we focus on the problems they have in early life they may be better equipped to deal with problems in the future and that may help us avoid a good portion of the violent crimes committed by teenagers and very young adults. Far as guns are concerned I see no reason for a teenager to possess a military-grade weapon and I also feel that there should be some sort of mandatory training involved in possessing any military-style assault weapon.

We need to work on getting the divide between the extremely rich and the poor and making the minimum wage more of a living wage. Take it from someone who has worked the majority of his life making at or near the minimum wage, there is no way even at full-time hours one can live life at such wages without some other income or help. The question is do we increase the Minimum wage or do we find a way to lower the cost of living, either way, would solve a lot of the disparity out there and probably would help lower crime in general.

Politicians need to work on using less polarizing messaging to reach their base and stop being so partisan when governing. They are there to represent not only the party they are in but those that they serve in their state, regardless if those people are one party or another. Listen to the people, and do what they call for you to do above what the party you are affiliated with desires. Compromise with the opposing party when governing and finding common ground. This is what we the people pay you in congress to do.

Doesn’t matter what political party you are with, what religion you do or do not follow, your color, sex, or even sexual preference, or which sex you identify with, you are part of the people that those in congress are supposed to represent. We all are citizens, we all belong to this great nation we live in and no one is above another in our nation. We are supposed to be the beacon of light for the rest of the world and it’s time for us to get back to acting like it.

Put our differences aside, hold out our hand to our neighbor with no conditions and be the great people I know we all can be.

Peace and Blessings to all

Ray Barbier

Random Thoughts, Thought of the day, Thought's on World Issues

Helping those who are unable to help themselves

Leave a comment

018 The welfare of ourselves and our fellow human beings is not the responsibility of  the government, we are responsible for our own welfare and the welfare of others. If a brother or sister be unable to care for themselves be due to physical limitations or mental dysfunctions we are to provide as a group help and support for them. Even those who have made poor life choices we are to help, for to be human is to be imperfect and no one can boast about being flawless in character.

One person may not be able to help all those in need, but one person can make a difference for one in need and inspire others to join in on helping those in need.  We were commanded to love one another, part of loving one another is accepting the responsibility of being each others care giver and/or helper. We all have our ways of being able to help each other and it isn’t all about money, sometimes its about fellowship and other times just a place to rest ones head.

To those whom look down upon the needy and less fortunate, just remember that person you passed by and/ or felt contempt for could have been you or one of your family. Many of the homeless were at one time wealthy, successful and even well-respected individuals before they fell to poverty and misfortune. We as a society need to not only help those in need but provide a way for them to help themselves. As an old proverb once said :

”if you give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime. ~ Confucius”

Though Governments can help in feeding the hungry and housing the homeless it is only a temporary and expensive solution. We need to find ways to help those able to provide for themselves to do so and find better and more efficient ways of helping those who are unable to help themselves.

God bless and may love guide us all

Ray Barbier

Related articles
Green Issues, Random Thoughts, Thought of the day, Thought's on World Issues

Put our minds and hearts together

2 Comments

English: Poverty Русский: Нищенство

Between Mass media and the world-wide web it seems we are becoming a global minded society. Nothing wrong with being global minded as long as we never forget we live in our own small community as well. If we keep our minds distracted with the news of overseas conflicts and international problems we tend to forget the problems we face in our home towns. We should start at home when it comes to helping the needy, impoverished and those who can not fend for themselves. Though I fully support helping the less fortunate on a global scale as well I believe our hometowns should be our first priority. There are hungry, homeless, handicapped and many who can not do for themselves in every town and city in our great nation. Food stamps, welfare are good as temporary solutions in helping those who are able to work and is the right idea for those who are truly physically or mentally incapable of working.

We need to focus on offering those able to work training to do jobs and also offer them state and/or federal jobs doing community service. At least they will be on the right track back to being independent and self efficient individual. Most of those who are on some kind of governmental assistance usually prefers to work for their living but find it hard to get a job which pays enough to support themselves or their family. So if we offered them training and/or a job with the government doing something constructive for their money they would gladly accept one if not both options.

In the Appalachian region a lot of coal miners are finding themselves unemployed due to the greener America movement and the lack of permits being issued for mining. The idea of greener technologies and alternative energies is a great idea, but if you get a greener America at the cost of the jobs of Americans then how will that be a better America? We need to bring in more industries and jobs into the region and retrain coal miners to do the new jobs before we start forcing coal mining to shut down.  It doesn’t only affect the coal miners and their families it affects the whole community and the communities surrounding it. Food stores, shopping malls, restaurants and many small business will get hit hard by the loss of coal mining jobs. They rely on the coal miners for their income and business.

This is just some of the issues happening here in our own back yard and for some their front yard as well. It is time for communities to start coming together as a community and start dealing with the problems here at home. Together we can overcome any challenge as long as we put our minds and hearts together . Turn off that television, radio, mp3 player and any  other time-consuming distraction device  and tune in to what is going on in your own town for a day. Take a little time to help out your neighbors and your fellow citizens and see how just a little help can go a long way.

Ray Barbier

Related articles
Green Issues, Random Thoughts, Thought's on World Issues

We are the stewards of this world we live in

Leave a comment

We are the stewards of this world we live in; we are responsible for the well-being of the planet and all living things on it. We are responsible for one another, be it friend, stranger and even foe. God gave us the gift of life and the gift of such a beautiful planet to call home along with the responsibility of caring for both. Somehow a lot of us forgot our responsibilities and/or our job of being stewards of this world. So much pollution is filling the air, covering the land and poisoning the water. There is too many hungry and homeless people and way too many children in poverty. When did we lose our way and how can we find our way back? How can we continue to pollute our planet and allow famine and homelessness to run rampant across our beautiful world? We can spend trillions of dollars on wars and dedicate such a large workforce to achieve victory but yet spare hardly any resources to combat the hunger and homeless in our own country and around the world. As precious as life is along with the beautiful and wondrous planet to live on we don’t seem to care that we are throwing it all away. Since there is so many of us humans on this planet we all can choose just one or two things to be responsible for in our stewardship and still make an impact. Not everyone can be in Greenpeace or be a political activist. Not everyone is cut out to be a social worker or volunteer. Choose your battle and be dedicated to its cause, be it feeding the hungry, helping the homeless, cleaning up your hometown or doing grassroots activism.

This is our planet to take care of and we should do the best we can to make it a better place. Governments only can do so much to change our world; the rest is up to us and the business sector. We need to pressure both the governments and businesses of the world into being more green minded as well as more charitable towards the less fortunate. Not so much by making laws but by our spending and voting habits as well as writing our representatives. We should educate our fellow stewards about the state of our world and how to make changes at a personal level as well as in the big picture. We as a species need to learn to accept and tolerate the differences between us as people in order to come together and make this world a better place for ourselves and our children.

The Children are the world’s greatest resource and they are our precious future.

Raymond Barbier

Related articles