A Modest Blog Post

Whenever I drive to Vancouver and we accidently take the long way through the city to get to the UBC campus, it sickens and saddens me to see all the homeless and drug-addicted people on East Hastings.  We read Johnathan Swift's A Modest Proposal, which addresses the topic of the starving people and the overpopulation in Ireland during the eighteenth century, which connects to cities in Canada and other countries these days, in a way.  Swift writes on the experience of when one "walk[s] through [a] great town or travel[s] in the country, [and] they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors crowded with beggars."  Although he is reffering to Ireland in the eighteenth century, on East Hastings in Vancouver, the streets are covered in masses of people who probably haven't showered, eaten, or seen a clean needle in days or months!  They might not neccessarily have the problem of having an overpopulation of children, like in A Modest Proposal, but there is an overpopulation of homeless people.  The high rate of homeless people is due to many things, but just a few really stand out to me.  The fact that there are very few jobs for the uneducated, is one.  People would argue that people should then get an education so they can aquire a well-paying job, but I would argue that going to university, or even just college, is extrememly expensive and hard to pay for, especially if you do not have a job to earn money in the first place.  Being faced with trying to earn enough money to pay for my own university education for next year and the following years is quite stressful and difficult, and I come from a decently well-off family! I cannot imagine trying to go to college while being homeless and jobless! And then there's the reason that houses, or even apartments, are just too expensive these days.  I was watching a story on the news and a young couple living in Vancouver were being interviewed and they said that they wanted to start a family but couldn't afford a house in the area and the only apartment they could afford would be too small for children and they both had respected, well-paying jobs! I find it so shocking how scary-expensive things have gotten these days! And another reason for the high rate of homeless people, I think, is because of the easily accessible drugs.  Although drugs are illegal, people still easily get ahold of them, which I find disgusting and unneccessary.  Unless used for medicinal purposes, I don't see any reason for drugs to be in this world.  I feel that people can have a good time without them, and if you can't be happy or have fun without them, then something is very wrong with the world!