It is being said that one of the biggest shames in our country today is the deplorable condition that many of our elderly generation is being forced to live in. We are one of the richest countries in the world, yet so many of our grandmothers and grandfathers are forced to live on practically nothing each month. Choosing between paying their electric bill or food is real. Choosing between buying their necessary medicines and food is real. What are we doing to change this shameful situation?

The Social Security benefits that the majority of the elderly receive come no where near what it takes for a person to survive over the span of a month in this country. For some elderly who had some money saved for their retirement, it might be a little easier than for those who simply got too old and disabled to work and had nothing at all. A lot of these elderly folks either have no family to help care for them as was done in past times or their family simply abandons them to fend for themselves. How disgraceful can we get?

It is only being decent human beings when we take on the responsibility of taking care of children, the sick, and the aged. When we pay in our tax dollars, we assume that they will go to pay for these most important issues first, but that is not necessarily the case evidently. We have children living in this country that are far below the poverty level that go to bed hungry almost every night. While some might say this is not their responsibility, and it might not be, but how can we let it be ignored?

With all the money that our government takes in, why are so many of our elderly, even our veterans, suffering indignities that they should not have to? Is it not more important to feed the hungry, sick, old, and very young in our country rather than having government buildings that cost millions and millions of dollars? Could not some public officials take the bus to their well paid jobs and save some of those tax dollars in order to give a better way of life to those who have already spent their lives helping to build this country?

These are some serious questions that demand some serious answers. Our tax dollars should go more towards providing a better quality of life for those who can not fend for themselves instead of so many other frivolous expenditures. We the tax payers need to find a voice and demand that some of these tragic issues find a resolution.