One has to admire the philanthropy of Bill Gates, using his billions to help some of the world’s ills such as HIV/AIDS. But while admiration is due, methinks that a lot of problems exist for folks in Gates’ own backyard.
In my home state of Texas, for instance, we have more children who are without health insurance than any other state in the union. But we have a lot of guns! You can’t discount that.
Recently I have come to understand that one real problem in our country involves those whom I will call: “The Crevice Dwellers.” No, they don’t necessarily dwell in a crevice. These are the people — like someone I know very well — who is partially disabled but not totally disabled. This person has enough of a disability that it makes finding a suitable job extremely difficult. But the person can work at some tasks and therefore cannot draw disability pensions from the government.
That is just one example of The Crevice Dwellers. There are also many other examples. A good number of people who fall into these categories are the ones who sometime become homeless because there is no safety net to catch them when they slip through. These may be well-educated and otherwise, seemingly normal, individuals. But something happens to them — an illness, injury, divorce, business failure — and they are stuck out there.
The Crevice Dwellers are people who can become stellar citizens and who may contribute much to society. But they keep falling and falling and can’t get out of the rut. Who knows, maybe these people could some day become as rich as Bill Gates and donate their money to help others in the world.
It’s something to think about for the weekend. Have a happy, happy.