Advocacy isn't a disguise

What do you believe in? What do you hope to change?  

I work for a catholic organization. I myself am not a catholic, but I fell in love with the basic principles that my organization and the catholic church abides by.

1. Dignity of the Human Person We recognize the sanctity of human life. People do not lose dignity because of disability, poverty, age, lack of success, or race. This emphasizes people over things, being, over having.

2. Community and the Common Good The human person is both sacred and social. We realize our dignity and rights in relationship with others and in our communities. We are called to respect all of God’s gifts of creation to be good stewards of the each and each other.
3. Rights and Responsibilities People have a fundamental right to life, food, shelter, health care, education and employment. All people have a right to participate in decisions that affect their lives. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities to respect the rights of others in the wider society and to work for the common good.
4. Option for the Poor The moral test of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable members. The poor have the most urgent moral claim on the conscience of the nation. We are called to look at public policy decisions in terms of how they affect the poor.
5. Dignity of Work People have a right to decent and productive work, fair wages, private property and economic initiative. The economy exists to serve people, not the other way around.
6. Solidarity We are one human family. Our responsibilities to each other cross national, racial, economic and ideological differences. We are called to work globally for justice.
7. Care for God’s Creation The goods of the earth are gifts from God. We have a responsibility to care for these goods as stewards and trustees, not as mere consumers and users.

So again what do you believe?
I want to change a system bigger than myself and I do not even know how or where to start. My warning to you, fellow reader, is that I, am a democrat and a liberal.. so read at your own risk.

This last week I got to go advocate for the things I believe in. I got to speak to district representatives and senators. I went there with others with the hope of being heard. My stance is there needs to be more funding for basic needs. Not simply just education. Do not get me wrong, I believe that funding needs to be placed in education, but what good is an education to a child who sleeps in a car, is hungry, and has no health care. If basic needs are not met (maslows hierarchy of needs) such as safety, shelter, food, than how can self enrichment ever happen. It can't. 

Our system is so broken. So many people (some of them being good friends of mine) believe a lie. They believe individuals take advantage of our system. Its not true. The facts show a good majority of the people who need help genuinely need help. These individuals on average are able to get them selves on there feet -with the help of our system- with in 28 months. Thats really amazing if you ask me. I hear people say that they stay on these programs there whole life.. but its not possible. TANF recipients are only allowed to be on these programs for a maximum of 5 years, and they have to prove that they are attempting to find work. The common thought is that it is "easy" to be in assistance programs. But its truly not. In 2007 there was 300  million dollars set aside to help individuals build affordable housing units and an additional 5 million help at risk and vulnerable populations (chronically homeless and mentally ill) with housing. These numbers have been substantially cut back. There is now only 69 million dollars set aside to help with the cost of housing and no additional funds set aside for those vulnerable populations.  I know 69 million dollars sounds "like a lot" but housing costs, especially in our state, are outrageous. Think of it this way:
 What makes housing affordable? Those working in the housing field generally use the guideline that an individual or family should pay no more than 30% of its income for housing and utilities costs. Using that standard, a minimum wage earner in Snohomish County can afford to pay monthly rent of no more than $445, and someone making the average hourly wage of $14.38 could pay up to $748. However, the average rent charged in the Snohomish county area for a two-bedroom unit is $942 . 
In 2012 the count of homeless individuals identified 2,387 people and 1,410 households as being homeless, with about 800 people under age 18. Those figures were up slightly from 2011, when 2,249 people were counted.
These numbers upset me. They were numbers used when discussing my stand point to the representatives I met. Yet these numbers and facts meant nothing to the individuals I spoke with. In their defense they had their own view points and own areas they felt the budget and available funding needed to go. Even though I greatly disagreed and felt as though they had absolutely no ounce of compassion in their soul... I still know they felt similar to me. They believed in their side, in their issues. 

With this said. How can I ever change their mind. Do I take them by the hand.. have them meet some of my clients who suffer from hunger, homelessness, and to top it off they are in desperate need of health care services.  If they saw these individuals and how hard they worked to change their lives... would their view points change? I would like to hope so. I would like to think at some point I will be able to show these representatives the truth about our society and our societies needs.

Basic needs are failing to be met. So my message to legislation... is that every human being has the right to food, shelter, and health care. Simple as that. No ifs, and whats, buts about it. Every person on our planet deserves these basic rights. 
IF you are interested in my views if you believe like I do, take a stand. GO speak up, write  a letter, and never give up.