This material world is unforgiving and ruthless. As kali advances people will become more and more sense gratificatory and heartless. This would be evident in the amount of people suffering. The disparate allocation of resources will cause a wide gap between the haves and have-nots. The rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. This already exists in developing nations such as countries in the African continent and Asian continent (especially).
United States is considered an advanced country and one of the most powerful nations in the world economically, technologically and military wise. However, all is not rosy in this country. I work in the social industry and this is my job to study the socio-economic disparities within the community. When we dig in more, based on national and state data sources, one can evidence immense disparities in socio-economic conditions among people. This is one reason in the 1960s we had what is called in the “city planning” world “white flight”. White flight means predominantly white people moving to the suburbs during the 1960s to start a new era in planning called suburbia. Due to this massive movement, we have urban sprawl in almost every major city in the US which means more dependence on automobiles to commute from work to home and that also means heavy dependence on gasoline to fuel the cars. Due to this type of lifestyle choice people make and are still making, we have wars on terror for OIL.
As a result of this massive suburban movement, the inner cities became dilapidated, neglected and ignored by the city government (because the rich people could afford to move to the suburbs leaving behind the poor people) thus the increase of crime and grime. This lead to social decay in the inner cities (rapid rise in drugs, violence and vandalism). Basic amenities such as affordable housing, quality education and health care became an issue and are still an issue.
As a result of this and other major factors, in the 1980s, there was another big problem that started to surface which the government is not able to handle. This is the issue of “homelessness”. There is a rapid rise in homelessness across all the major metros in the US and now is externally/visually visible in all the public settings such as parks, downtown area, river banks, public libraries and other such public and open places.
Homelessness literally means people are without homes. People stay in camps, shelter homes, boxes, cars and other temporary shelter which do not have adequate facilities. This is a tragedy, problem and shame to the US government because it is not able to curb the count of homeless people. It is estimated (difficult to measure homeless people) that approximately 1% of the metro population, on any given day, is homeless. So, for example, the estimated population of New York is 19 million, that means approximately 190,000 people are homeless in New York. Since homelessness is a difficult concept, this figure is a rough estimate. Nevertheless is a huge number. The biggest tragedy of this homeless issue is more than 50% of the homeless are single mothers with children. Srila Prabhupada, back in the 1960s, criticized this so called equality for women and today his words are coming true. Women are being abused to be left alone with children on the streets. The government is just not adequate to protect them.
The rapid rise in homeless people (mostly women with children) is growing across the country including “small town” Iowa. I was driving to Wal-mart Super center yesterday and right at the entrance to the huge parking lot, was a homeless woman holding a sign “will work for food”. Actually, I saw the same women the second time. The first time I saw her, I ignored her presence. But this time, I could not be so hard hearted.
Another big precipitating cause for homelessness is substance abuse and mental illness. Homeless people (more than 50%) mostly have both the problems concurrently. So I was a little hesitant to approach a homeless women who may be mentally ill or substance abuse. Since she was standing alone near the entrance of the parking lot, the only way was to walk up to her which I was not sure I wanted to do. I knew giving her food will not solve the problem so I wanted to somehow give her Krishna Consciousness as well. My wife encouraged me and so we mustered the strength to walk up to her (after I finished my shopping).
I and my wife approached her and I went like this “will you accept cash”…I could not have said the most ridiculous thing on earth like I was talking to a cashier “do you accept credit card or cash”….anyways the women looked at me and said “what?”….and I raised my voice thinking she was deaf and said “will you take money for food” and she said “why not” and I handed her a five dollar bill. Then I said “I want to give you something else”. At that moment, I did not have a book or anything Krishna Conscious, but I had my Hare Krishna visiting cards which state the mantra and its benefits. I gave her three cards and I helped her to read the mantra once. She chanted the mantra one time loudly to me. I assured her the mantra will protect her from all dangers. Overall, she became very happy and was grateful to us. She said she valued this gift more than the money. She said she will chant daily. I asked her to give the other cards to her friends in the camp.
We spoke a little while on the merits of chanting and other general stuff as well and departed. I could see how by coming in contact with something sublime, she appreciated its value. I hope she chants!
Personally, I was praying Krishna to give me intelligence to do the right thing. It is very encouraging to see how people’s faces light up when they appreciate Krishna. This woman had many lines on her face with no frontal teeth and yet she looked blissful when I showed her the mantra.
I wish Krishna gives me the strength and compassion in my heart to spread His holy names to others as well rich and poor alike.
Hare Krishna
United States is considered an advanced country and one of the most powerful nations in the world economically, technologically and military wise. However, all is not rosy in this country. I work in the social industry and this is my job to study the socio-economic disparities within the community. When we dig in more, based on national and state data sources, one can evidence immense disparities in socio-economic conditions among people. This is one reason in the 1960s we had what is called in the “city planning” world “white flight”. White flight means predominantly white people moving to the suburbs during the 1960s to start a new era in planning called suburbia. Due to this massive movement, we have urban sprawl in almost every major city in the US which means more dependence on automobiles to commute from work to home and that also means heavy dependence on gasoline to fuel the cars. Due to this type of lifestyle choice people make and are still making, we have wars on terror for OIL.
As a result of this massive suburban movement, the inner cities became dilapidated, neglected and ignored by the city government (because the rich people could afford to move to the suburbs leaving behind the poor people) thus the increase of crime and grime. This lead to social decay in the inner cities (rapid rise in drugs, violence and vandalism). Basic amenities such as affordable housing, quality education and health care became an issue and are still an issue.
As a result of this and other major factors, in the 1980s, there was another big problem that started to surface which the government is not able to handle. This is the issue of “homelessness”. There is a rapid rise in homelessness across all the major metros in the US and now is externally/visually visible in all the public settings such as parks, downtown area, river banks, public libraries and other such public and open places.
Homelessness literally means people are without homes. People stay in camps, shelter homes, boxes, cars and other temporary shelter which do not have adequate facilities. This is a tragedy, problem and shame to the US government because it is not able to curb the count of homeless people. It is estimated (difficult to measure homeless people) that approximately 1% of the metro population, on any given day, is homeless. So, for example, the estimated population of New York is 19 million, that means approximately 190,000 people are homeless in New York. Since homelessness is a difficult concept, this figure is a rough estimate. Nevertheless is a huge number. The biggest tragedy of this homeless issue is more than 50% of the homeless are single mothers with children. Srila Prabhupada, back in the 1960s, criticized this so called equality for women and today his words are coming true. Women are being abused to be left alone with children on the streets. The government is just not adequate to protect them.
The rapid rise in homeless people (mostly women with children) is growing across the country including “small town” Iowa. I was driving to Wal-mart Super center yesterday and right at the entrance to the huge parking lot, was a homeless woman holding a sign “will work for food”. Actually, I saw the same women the second time. The first time I saw her, I ignored her presence. But this time, I could not be so hard hearted.
Another big precipitating cause for homelessness is substance abuse and mental illness. Homeless people (more than 50%) mostly have both the problems concurrently. So I was a little hesitant to approach a homeless women who may be mentally ill or substance abuse. Since she was standing alone near the entrance of the parking lot, the only way was to walk up to her which I was not sure I wanted to do. I knew giving her food will not solve the problem so I wanted to somehow give her Krishna Consciousness as well. My wife encouraged me and so we mustered the strength to walk up to her (after I finished my shopping).
I and my wife approached her and I went like this “will you accept cash”…I could not have said the most ridiculous thing on earth like I was talking to a cashier “do you accept credit card or cash”….anyways the women looked at me and said “what?”….and I raised my voice thinking she was deaf and said “will you take money for food” and she said “why not” and I handed her a five dollar bill. Then I said “I want to give you something else”. At that moment, I did not have a book or anything Krishna Conscious, but I had my Hare Krishna visiting cards which state the mantra and its benefits. I gave her three cards and I helped her to read the mantra once. She chanted the mantra one time loudly to me. I assured her the mantra will protect her from all dangers. Overall, she became very happy and was grateful to us. She said she valued this gift more than the money. She said she will chant daily. I asked her to give the other cards to her friends in the camp.
We spoke a little while on the merits of chanting and other general stuff as well and departed. I could see how by coming in contact with something sublime, she appreciated its value. I hope she chants!
Personally, I was praying Krishna to give me intelligence to do the right thing. It is very encouraging to see how people’s faces light up when they appreciate Krishna. This woman had many lines on her face with no frontal teeth and yet she looked blissful when I showed her the mantra.
I wish Krishna gives me the strength and compassion in my heart to spread His holy names to others as well rich and poor alike.
Hare Krishna
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