Monday Thoughts

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NPR

None can give you more

None can make you listen

None can take you there

None can explain you better

Than National Public Radio.

None can be more engaging

None can be more entertaining

None can be more enlightening

None can be more trusting and believing

Than National Public Radio.

(c) 2012 by chris a. quilpa

This morning while I was listening to NPR, I thought of what it does to our population in general, how it helps us get informed of what's happening locally, nationally, internationally; up, down, in between, and beyond space and time. It helps us to think, to act, to decide, to feel happy and sad or mad, to feel big and small, free and human, etc.

Likewise, this morning, when I went downstairs to get something to eat, I turned on the radio that's set on NPR. I heard that the topic under discussion by one of the radio program's hosts was about homelessness in America. My mind immediately switched to an original notion (that was unreal and untrue) when I arrived here in the U.S. for the first time in the early '80s. My flawed thought was that there was no poor in America, no homeless in America. I thought that all people was materially rich or wealthy. I thought that all people in America are homeowners. That when they build their homes, they've been already paid for by the sole owners. I didn't think about paying monthly mortgages, etc. Ah, I was wrong, as I continued (with the rest of my fellow immigrants) to work my way to realize my American Dream! I was completely wrong, and dumbfounded when I found out the truth of the matter and the reality of being and living here in America.

Lots of questions bombard or puzzle me or disrupt my immigrant's way of thinking and living, with the education and life experiences I've had or learned way back in my native country, the Philippines. I must tell and share with you, my dear folks and friends, that I learned life the hard way. I know what it means (to live) to be poor. I know how it feels to be poor because I've been there. I've lived and experienced it.

So what are these questions that keep bugging me? Here they are: If America is known worldwide to be the most powerful, the richest country or nation on planet Earth, why do we have homeless in our midst? Why are there homeless, poor, marginalized, underserved among us in the United States? Is it because America the Land of the Free World? Yet, it has this sobriquet, too, being the Land of Milk and Honey? I know, we have rights and responsibilities, as human beings. And we have choices, too, because we're free to do whatever we want, even to the point of breaking (or challenging) the laws of the land and the Natural Law and laws of God (if we are believers)?

I know, that compared to other countries in the world, America is better off in many ways. But, I don't understand why we have homeless and poor, despite the many opportunities we have to succeed here? Look around us: we are deluged with consumer goods, have lots of disposable stuff that we use everyday, yet we have homeless and poor in our midst? Does it make sense? We have some or many overweight and obese people in our cities and states, why? Why, o why, do we have lots of people taking drugs, and medications? Why do we have problems here that are persistent in other developed and developing countries? Is it because problems are universal, like feelings? Does this mean that poverty and other social and societal issues are rampant everywhere around the globe, and America is not spared to have some? Does this mean that America is no different than other countries or nations in the world? I'd like to find answers to these questions. I'd like to be enlightened, you know, so that I won't be wondering all the time.

My dear folks and friends, these are my Monday thoughts. Thank you for your time with me. And, until next time around. Take care and have a blessed and wonderful day, everyone! As always, May God bless us all!-chris a. quilpa, 17September2012