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Andrew Carnegie: Should We Help The Homeless?

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Should We Help The Homeless?
As once written by Andrew Carnegie, “The problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and poor in harmonious relationship” (Carnegie) Homelessness has been around for centuries, just like the debate over Americans helping the homeless or letting them fend for themselves. There are many aspects must which should be considered in the argument of whether we, the American people and higher class, should help them or not; such as the ethical values of the situation from both the poor and those involved in helping, the cultural and social causes, and effects on their lives.
In Carnegie’s “The Gospel of Wealth,” he argues that the affluent have a unique responsibility to help others by aiding the lower class. He does not, however, promote simply handing money to the poor. In a way, the wealthy should act paternally. He believes that it is the responsibility of the wealthy to provide …show more content…

A constant cause of homelessness is alcohol and drug abuse, a study done in 1989 revealed that 33-38 percent of homeless are alcoholic and 13-15 percent are drug abusers with those percentages rising throughout the years (Parsell.) There is a distinction between enabling and helping. When one helps another, they are doing something which the other individual can not do on their own, where as enabling one is to do something for the individual which they can do on their own. So instead of aiding the homeless feed some of the addictions by giving the money that they can use to buy their addiction and that lead them to the situation they find themselves in, upper class Americans should manage their money for the welfare of the lower class, just as parents disburse their money for the benefit of the children without actually allowing the kids get their hands on the

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Communities should develop plans to help these people in need and give them a place to stay instead of living on the streets. Society has failed to support these people in need because of the primary focus being on the more fortunate who can give back to the society. I say that the homeless should be prioritized over the wealthy because they are more in need than they are. This being said, we can never blame the individual for what society has put them through. I do believe that if society gives homeless people a second chance they deserve they could strive to make their lives better with our help.

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