Crime and Poverty

Poverty, malnutrition, ignorance, unemployment are the banes of our society. Anyone who feels they have to define their self-worth in terms of the people to whom they feel themselves superior has a fragile sense of being. Racism, xenophobia, bullying, sexual harassment, assault, are all manifestations of this lack of self-worth, a sense of meaningfulness. The ultimate expression of this nihilism and depression shows up in the mass suicides of young people on our Canadian Reserves.

That a young native female feels her situation so desperate that she resorts to becoming a sex trade worker is one thing, that someone should feel that this makes her less than human and therefore the object of rape and murder... ? What makes a person so insecure within himself that he feels he is threatened by another's alternate lifestyle. Be it sexual orientation, race, nationality, religion. And remember being homosexual is a matter of birth, not choice. Pregnant woman now appear regularly in public and later breast feed their infants publicly as well. Those with disfigurements no longer hide in closets and wheel-chair accessibility has become an issue as an increasing segment of our society choose to lead very active lives. The growing number of Vets in America have helped drive this issue. After all, we trained them to be agressive.

Visible minorities are obvious targets, the fact that African-Americans arrived as slaves makes them uniquely vulnerable. However something as simple as an accent or turn of phrase can define one as an outsider.

Alcoholism and Drug Dependency are another means of escape for many people. The use of marijuana has become so general that we are moving to legalize it. The use of recreational drugs prescription or otherwise among the general population has become epidemic. Concomitant with this rise is the crime that supports it. The youth offender act has led drug pushers to utilize children to peddle their wares. The easy money is tempting to the youthful unemployed. Learning that you have a meth lab next door when the house blows up.... That your tenant used your rental property for a grow op.... Or going for a hike in a National Park and discovering that meadow before you is a massive pot farm.... Unfortunately all these scenarios are very real.

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