Few are shocked by the Nov. 17 article “Report: Child homelessness at record high in U.S.” America has become a land of beggars. The fact that many children come to school hungry is a disgrace. There is no shortage of federal and state programs to help the poor but these just promote the kinds of behavior that perpetuate this lifestyle. Babies don’t ask to be born.
The Anthony Flippen-Savannah Austin couple featured in the article living in a shelter with their 2-year-old son chose not to use birth control and she is pregnant again. Austin complains that she has to leave the shelter during the day, so she “drives around,” which is “kind of hard.” Oh, so she has a car and pays for gas to drive around. (Who hasn’t seen the pregnant panhandler in the Mercedes on the Internet?) Sorry folks, it doesn’t take a village, it takes responsible parents to raise children. Stop blaming society and the minimum wage, which was never meant to be a living wage. But most of all take responsibility and stop popping out babies for more benefits. These people are playing the system and are dooming their children to the same culture of dependency.
Mimi Kimbrough
Vancouver
