Self-Sufficiency and Starving Children in Appalachia
Well, I did not mean for this to be a political blog, but with all this talk about people in Appalachia having their water poisoned, I took to YouTube to learn more. I was raised for a few years of my life in the foothills of northern SC, and I have relatives who live in the mountains of NC up into VA and Kentucky, so I know a little bit about mountain people, and believe me, not many of them are like Eustace Conway from "Mountain Men." Yes, there are people in the Appalachian mountains who DO take care of themselves and know how to live off the land, but this isn't about them.
First, let me say that there is a huge difference between ignorance and intelligence. Some people, despite being intelligent, choose to stay ignorant, and ignorance and stubborn refusal to change can destroy you. What I saw in these two videos was the VAST difference in lifestyle and philosophy between the older generation and the present generation of mountain people. These are not short videos, so watch them as you have time, but I will tell you the MAIN difference I found:
The people of Appalachia have forgotten how to take care of themselves. They have become dependent on the government and lazy. Yes, LAZY and IGNORANT. Despite having more opportunities and dozens of organizations willing to help them, they refuse to get up and take responsibility or take charge of their own lives. One of the coal mine owners said he had 100 jobs open, but he couldn't get enough people to pass the drug test. Another article I read said that the turnover in the mines is extremely high, because they find the work too hard. If you're starving and your family is living in squalor, what work would be too hard? I can't think of much.
In the first video, the early Appalachian women talked a lot about hard work; how they got up, walked miles to school, got home and did chores and homework before they were allowed to go outside to play. All of them grew their own food, and who wouldn't in such a rich environment? Somewhere along the line, that work ethic has been lost.
In the second video, I saw a lot of people living in squalor and whining about this and that, most of them addicted to drugs and alcohol. I did not see one garden, but I did hear children talking about how they had no food, when in fact, there was food all around them in the woods. They have lost the knowledge they need to thrive. They depend on corporate America and the government to save them.
What Appalachia needs is not food stamps and welfare, but for someone to go up there and teach them how to feed themselves. It should start with the children and the schools, and growing a garden should be part of the curriculum. While you're at it, teach them to forage. There is plenty enough food in those woods in the spring, summer and fall to keep them reasonably well fed. Teach them to trap small animals for meat. (I expect to hear from animal activists about this, but we're talking survival of CHILDREN here, so please keep your opinions to your damned selves!). Teach them to cook the food they grow and trap.
Learning to be self-sufficient is the only way these children will ever break this cycle of poverty and despair. They certainly don't have parents like the earlier settlers did to teach them these things. Someone has to step in and do what the parents should have been doing. It will be difficult. Appalachian people are proud and stubborn, but it can be done. I can't understand why the need has not been seen up to now. It's absurd that people living with so many resources all around them can't feed themselves.
And we are partly to blame, by turning a blind eye to the starving children here while sending billions of dollars to feed starving children overseas. I think that Jimmy Carter's mother, Lillian, was the last person who even noticed these people. She started AmeriCorp, whose VISTA project is supposed to be helping Americans, but they, too, have become dependent on government funds.
Then there is the fact that most young people would rather sit playing violent video games and posting banal banter on Facebook than actually try to help anyone. It's easier to ignore them and pretend they don't exist. In years past, colleges and universities had mandated public service for graduation, but that has by-and-large gone away now.
It's not that nobody cares, but nobody wants to actually DO anything, because it's too hard. Jamie Oliver tried. He went into W. Virginia and tried to teach them to eat healthier. I'm sure there are others who have tried too, but it takes a special kind of person to break through the distrust and pride of these people.
Please take the time to watch the videos. It's less than two hours of your time, and you may learn something, or you may be motivated to do something. At the very least, you will be shocked and dismayed by the difference in the two generations. I say if Occupy wants a cause, here it is. Go Occupy Appalachia and really help someone.
First, let me say that there is a huge difference between ignorance and intelligence. Some people, despite being intelligent, choose to stay ignorant, and ignorance and stubborn refusal to change can destroy you. What I saw in these two videos was the VAST difference in lifestyle and philosophy between the older generation and the present generation of mountain people. These are not short videos, so watch them as you have time, but I will tell you the MAIN difference I found:
The people of Appalachia have forgotten how to take care of themselves. They have become dependent on the government and lazy. Yes, LAZY and IGNORANT. Despite having more opportunities and dozens of organizations willing to help them, they refuse to get up and take responsibility or take charge of their own lives. One of the coal mine owners said he had 100 jobs open, but he couldn't get enough people to pass the drug test. Another article I read said that the turnover in the mines is extremely high, because they find the work too hard. If you're starving and your family is living in squalor, what work would be too hard? I can't think of much.
In the first video, the early Appalachian women talked a lot about hard work; how they got up, walked miles to school, got home and did chores and homework before they were allowed to go outside to play. All of them grew their own food, and who wouldn't in such a rich environment? Somewhere along the line, that work ethic has been lost.
In the second video, I saw a lot of people living in squalor and whining about this and that, most of them addicted to drugs and alcohol. I did not see one garden, but I did hear children talking about how they had no food, when in fact, there was food all around them in the woods. They have lost the knowledge they need to thrive. They depend on corporate America and the government to save them.
What Appalachia needs is not food stamps and welfare, but for someone to go up there and teach them how to feed themselves. It should start with the children and the schools, and growing a garden should be part of the curriculum. While you're at it, teach them to forage. There is plenty enough food in those woods in the spring, summer and fall to keep them reasonably well fed. Teach them to trap small animals for meat. (I expect to hear from animal activists about this, but we're talking survival of CHILDREN here, so please keep your opinions to your damned selves!). Teach them to cook the food they grow and trap.
Learning to be self-sufficient is the only way these children will ever break this cycle of poverty and despair. They certainly don't have parents like the earlier settlers did to teach them these things. Someone has to step in and do what the parents should have been doing. It will be difficult. Appalachian people are proud and stubborn, but it can be done. I can't understand why the need has not been seen up to now. It's absurd that people living with so many resources all around them can't feed themselves.
And we are partly to blame, by turning a blind eye to the starving children here while sending billions of dollars to feed starving children overseas. I think that Jimmy Carter's mother, Lillian, was the last person who even noticed these people. She started AmeriCorp, whose VISTA project is supposed to be helping Americans, but they, too, have become dependent on government funds.
Then there is the fact that most young people would rather sit playing violent video games and posting banal banter on Facebook than actually try to help anyone. It's easier to ignore them and pretend they don't exist. In years past, colleges and universities had mandated public service for graduation, but that has by-and-large gone away now.
It's not that nobody cares, but nobody wants to actually DO anything, because it's too hard. Jamie Oliver tried. He went into W. Virginia and tried to teach them to eat healthier. I'm sure there are others who have tried too, but it takes a special kind of person to break through the distrust and pride of these people.
Please take the time to watch the videos. It's less than two hours of your time, and you may learn something, or you may be motivated to do something. At the very least, you will be shocked and dismayed by the difference in the two generations. I say if Occupy wants a cause, here it is. Go Occupy Appalachia and really help someone.
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