In "Amazing Grace," Jonathan Kozol shocks his reader with a brutally and shockingly honest view of poverty conditions in America. He focuses on the South Bronx, where an astonishingly high number of crack and heroine addicts satisfy their "needs" in the local park while their children play on the jungle gym; every child knows someone who either died of AIDS or is dying of it; in the winter it is so cold people go to bed hoping not to freeze to death in the night; children are frequently victims of homicide; illegal waste is dumped, and it is common for children to be depressed and anxiety ridden. It is difficult to read these things and believe that they are occurring in America and not some other, third world country. It is difficult to read these things and not feel somewhat appalled, infuriated even. How could we, America, allow this? Surely there is something that can be done about it!
This was my reaction, and then . . . I think of dessert, yes! Dessert:
The things that we could do with just six Oreos, I believe, could at least lessen the severity of many of the issues Jonathan Kozol discusses in his essay.
For example, drugs are often seen, by people who are depressed, as a way to cope; they get high to stop the pain. If better health care can be provided for children, including mental health care and drug awareness, depression could be alleviated, and a child's risk for becoming an addict could be significantly reduced. Better health care could also be used to raise awareness on AIDS prevention. Some of that extra cookie, could be used to provide better, heated, insulated housing for poverty stricken communities, and I'm sure many more positive changes could be made with the help of a few billion extra dollars.
The pentagon is obese, hogging all the cookies, and everything else is being underfed. The pentagon can give up 6 out of 50 cookies for all the others to share. In fact, I daresay it could give up more. In conclusion, I would like to pose a question to the leaders of this "great nation:" WHERE'S YOUR COMMON SENSE?
