Our attitude to social issues sucks. (But we can change it.)

Photo from: http://www.geolocation.ws/v/P/55450813/atherton-gardens/en

I work in Fitzroy. For those of you not from Melbourne, let me explain that this is what we welfare types call a 'service saturated' area. I was walking there from the city this morning and as I got to the top of the main street I started to think about how much and how little has changed since I have been working there. Historically, the area is renowned for its high-rise public housing - the Atherton Gardens estate. Traditionally a VERY working class suburb, it's close proximity to the CBD has seen it, like many other suburbs like it, gentrified and a new wave of people (with money) have moved in. But the poverty remains. The divide between the rich and the poor is astounding. (And don't even get me started on the bloody hipsters.)

As I walked down Brunswick Street this morning, I walked past the site of an office I used to work in - the welfare service which was previously there is now a concrete jungle for the university students of the Australian Catholic University to sit in. 

Further down the street is welfare provider after welfare provider. There is a youth detox, an adult detox, a community health centre, two needle exchange programs, many services for refugees, a financial co-operative, church-based service providers, outreach services, a mental health service ... and on and on it goes. 

I've worked on this street for five years. There's been a lot of structural development, but the poverty remains. As I walked down the street this morning, walking past all of these welfare services, I wondered what the point of it all is. You see, so many services, and so many people in the area with money, and yet the homeless are still homeless; the poor are still poor. Those using substances to soften their reality still have lives which would be unbearable sober. I wondered if I was part of the problem - another cog in the machine. I reconciled that the core problem is that no matter how many welfare services fill up Brunswick Street, there are many other streets where there is no one who cares. Those of us in the sector can - and must - try our best; but part of the futility is that so many people are so terribly comfortable sitting on their hands. 

Once I got into the office, I read the paper. There was an op-ed by Dr Heather Holst, the CEO of a large housing service. She explained that in Victoria, there is currently a review being undertaken on public housing and that social housing is an issue because there is 37,000 families on the waiting list for it. 

THIRTY SEVEN THOUSAND. 

At the back of my mind for the rest of the day I was wondering how it is that we can live in a society filled with so many people who simply don't care. And I know they don't care because they won't change their vote on social issues such as this. 

But I don't actually think that people are unkind. To the contrary, I think that people are inherently good and compassionate and sympathetic. As I tried to deductively to establish how good people can sit idle - being complacent with the horrendous social inequities in our community - I came back to education -- people often don't know about these inequities. They don't have an understanding of structural disadvantage because we are raised being told that the world is a fucking meritocracy (sorry - I'm angry). 

People don't change their vote on social issues partly because they don't always realise that their vote is currency for change; but mostly, because they don't realise that they have a responsibility to assist those less privileged.

Another's lack of privilege is  your social responsibility.

We - somehow - need to shift the cultural belief that merit and success are inextricably tied. We need to teach our children that failing to use their voice to enact change only enables those hapless politicians we are currently surrounded by. When we sit on our hands, we are telling our politicians and our children that it's okay for them to do the same.

Years ago when I opened my Facebook account, in the 'About Me' box,  I wrote, 'Don't complain, do something about it'. I felt it matched my approach to life. It's still there and it is about the only thing about me that hasn't changed in the six years since I opened the account. While I realise that this whole post is me complaining, I suppose it's also my small step today to doing something about it. At a micro level, I've linked you the article to encourage you to engage with the issue. At the macro level, I've told you where I think we need to push for bigger change and hopefully made you think a little about your role as an agent for change, and your responsibility to encourage your children to do the same. 

But it's not just me and my rant for today that will do much. Nor is it that all of the welfare services in Brunswick Street will make much difference. The difference is made by large numbers of people doing even small things. To make politicians care about an issue, the public need to care about the issue. And it's not that people are uncaring, they just don't realise that the homeless person in the street is their issue.

Pretending homelessness isn't your issue is actually exacerbating the problem. 

So think about social issues and factor social issues into your voting decisions. Support charities which work with these populations and do it because you want to not because it's tax-deductible. Tell people who are less informed that social inequities affect us all. Be aware of your privilege and know that the more you have, the greater responsibility you have to do something (useful) with it. Focus on your kids being good people rather than on them getting good grades. Do something - it'll benefit us all.