Fight for Those Who Have Fought for Us
Something that many of us may see as unimaginable, but sadly still occurs in our backyards, is veterans living in poverty. Individuals who have sacrificed their freedoms to ensure that our nation remains free, deserve much more than what we are giving. As stated by the National Veterans Foundation, veteran homelessness, veteran unemployment, and veteran poverty are completely unacceptable to a society that glorifies the sacrifices the individuals make on a daily basis.
According to the talkpoverty.com, nationwide, there are 22.5 million veterans living in the United States, and more than 1.4 million of them are living in poverty. In recent years, that number has slowly been increasing.
It is sad to believe that the reason why so many veterans are living in poverty is because of the extreme shortage of affordable housing and the lingering effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. Because of this, veterans are at a disadvantage when it comes to finding a job and are often looked down upon when competing for employment. It is things like this, that have resulted in veterans accounting for a quarter of all suicides.
Although veterans have a lower poverty rate than other Americans, in Oklahoma, we have one of the highest rates of unemployed veterans in the country, and many family members of veterans also go without insurance as stated by okpolicy.org. According to the Department of Veteran Affairs, Oklahoma is home to 342,816 veterans, or 9 percent of the state’s total population. With most Oklahoma veterans living in the southwest corner of the state, it is crucial that we as a state step up and take action to provide support to those individuals who have risked their lives for us.
In a recent article done by newsok.com, they tell the story of Tulsa native, Titus Jacobs and the things he endured after coming back from war. He explains how he was living out of his car at the local Wal Mart parking lot because of his post-traumatic stress disorder and how difficult it was for him to find a job. After going through much counseling, Jacobs was able to get help from the VA Medical Center and was able find housing for him and his family. Jacobs now works at helping other veterans find housing and ensure that no other veteran goes through the things that he endured.
It is hard for a regular person to imagine the things that a veteran has gone through because we have not been put in that position. We can only imagine how it must feel if a veteran goes through all sorts of extremes and comes back to what they know was being home, almost feeling unwanted. There are many things that we as individuals can do to help these veterans, but the first step is figuring out what is the most predominant problem in our communities and tackle that.
Living in poverty is something that is difficult for any human, but is even more difficult for our veterans. As a society it is important that we learn to fight for those who have fought for us.
