Law Courts (Andrew Bates)
In the words of Roman author, Quintus Ennius, “Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur” – “a true friend is a friend when in difficulty”. How true that is, particularly in these stressful times as we navigate a world that’s, for the most part, post-COVID. We’ve been through it, haven’t we?
Crimes, criminals, justice — rules that don’t fit, people who don’t fit; people who don’t ‘fit’ the rules — the disenfranchised who live on the periphery and those perceived as the ‘have nots’. Some have always been on the outside looking in while others find themselves there by force of circumstance beyond their control — job loss, relationship breakdown and with that a collapse of income; funds necessary to sustain costs of daily living.
Post-COVID lives have not been easy for so many who are just trying to keep ahead but still strangled by the typical monthly debt load in addition to expenses accrued through necessity when ‘real’ money wasn’t readily available. It all adds up to lots and lots of trauma. Children, most of all, suffer and don’t always understand the why of it.
Day after day after day we read newspaper accounts of mothers or other caregivers of children stealing grocery items. The court system may be lenient the first time — restitution and perhaps community service with no jail time, but still the problem of poverty persists. That same person may well be before the courts a few months later and the boom is lowered with a 30 day jail term. The ‘criminal’ sinks lower into the depths of the despair of poverty and gets further behind with bills. Children suffer from the absence of the incarcerated parent/caregiver. No winners there!
So many people fall through the cracks and the services to meet their ‘special needs’ in the short or long term simply aren’t available and the cycle of poverty and a ‘life of crime to make ends meet’ continues. The mental health system could be and should be doing more; the people accessing their services could be and should doing more. It’s easy to lay blame - that gives everyone an ‘out’. The sad reality is that apathy is the villain in the piece and poverty is the real crime and the real criminal. How do we fix it? The situation can no longer be ‘how will THEY fix it?’. Why, you ask? Because THEY are WE. The mental health system and the justice system need to become one, with the common goal of breaking the cycle of ‘a life of crime to survive’. Intake workers need to be asking pertinent questions -- the right questions, not just the ‘little blue book’ questions that are standard to all; each person on their case load may have a host of issues common to a significant percentage of the worker’s total caseload. Perhaps there could be a meeting of the minds, pairing clients to work together to help each other and help themselves.
One of the biggest concerns of the poor is that they often feel alone in their misery, which is totally understandable. What if they could be matched up with one, two, three, or four people in like circumstance and contract, with a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ to move forward together.
Isolation is a barrier that prevents people from connecting to goods and services and those in positions to help don’t always have a full picture of what’s really going on. There has to be more disclosure and those in need must be made to feel that they won’t be criticized for their situation and that they can safely share what’s on their mind about how things in their lives are really going.
A group of people who are impacted by life’s slings and arrows could meet a few times a week, at the home of one of the group members, taking turns each week, perhaps inviting a few other folks outside their ‘normal’ group. Including those not exclusively identified with their plight offers a greater degree of clarity with regard to what their struggles mean to all, how their trials and tribulations impact everyone, not just those ‘living in it’. Sharing a meal, such a family around the dinner table does, is a great equalizer which lends itself well to meaningful dialogue on a range of topics, not just those related to “I’m poor because…” With the passage of time, as the group grows emotionally and spiritually, a ‘family’ is born and a family grows. A chance to turn things around is created and with each person doing their part, good things will happen.
Last year, within a month, two of my siblings passed away; I started out in a family with parents and 7 siblings. Now, we are three. I, an older brother and older sister remain; we are family. I also have another family of sorts -- my Sunday dinner and a movie companion and I are a family, with our time spent together breaking into the isolation we’d experience on our own. I cook!
Breaking bread together might be a step in the right direction to cutting into the hamster wheel of isolation, poverty and the cycle of poverty-driven crime. The power brokers and purse string holders might take note and get on board to embrace this new ‘family affair’ with systems of support that meet their needs.
Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with Miss Lexie, a rambunctious Maltese and Mr. Malcolm, a boisterous Havanese. She can be reached via email at Carla MacInnis Rockwell
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