The Hole In The Net :: essays research papers

Our social safety net has a localization in it. The fibers of the net aredecaying the hole is shake upting bigger. More nation are f on the wholeing through,and the pack with the least strength are property the or so of theweight. Three to four million Americans are homeless correspond to theU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 5.5% cannot find jobsaccording to the Bureau of drive and Statistics, and the figure is overtwice that in the 20-24 year old mature group, according to the Departmentof Education. A very slim minority of these people are sucking off thesystem, but the vast majority just had a bad break. Such is the story of Peter and Megan, as told by author Jonathan Kozolin his Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Award winner Rachel and HerChildren unsettled Families in America. Peter was a carpenter and shewas a homemaker who increase their five children. They lived in a neat,working class apartment mental synthesis in rude(a) York City. Peter didconst ruction for public housing projects, and had a vast array oftechnical skills and tools I did carpentry. I painted. I could dowallpapering. I earned a living. We spent Sundays walking with ourchildren on the beach. It may sound like this was a happy family,living the American Dream. mayhap they were -- they were selfsufficient for all of the 12 years that they had been married, they hada sedate income, a close and loving family, a home, and a chance fortheir children to do even better than they had done. Then the firestruck. They came racing home after hearing the news, only to find thateverything had been destroyed. The children befuddled their pet dog and cat,Megan lost her grandmothers china, but Peter perhaps lost the most histools. Since the fire, he has not had a job, because a carpenter withouttools might as well not have eyes. He explained that for every job hehad, he would add a new tool to his collection. But they all went up inthe blaze. When Kozol first met them, they were living in a upbeathotel in New York, where they had been living for two years. They cantget out because federal assistance programs (better known as welfare)tell them that their family constrain for an apartment is $366 a month --this with seven family members living in New York City. (In comparison,thats about the rock bottom price for a workweek in a New York City oneroom motel.) In their two room apartment, the entire place is falling