Hardship

Clean clothes, having a bed to sleep in, being able to watch your favorite television programs, and having food to eat, are just a few of the things most people tend to take for granted. A lot of people nowadays don’t understand what it means to struggle. There are many different types of struggles and hardships in America. My uncle has not been spared, falling victim to unemployment, homelessness and poverty.

‘’Unemployment in the United States, though on the decline, is still a staggering 7.3%’’ (tradingeconomics.com/united-states/unemployment-rate). My uncle lost his job after being injured in a work-related incident. The inability for him to provide a household income after his job loss was a direct contributor to his loss of home, causing depression and increasing his level of stress, impacting his health severely and negatively. This was just the beginning of his new and unwelcomed life.

Having lost his first house to Hurricane Andrew in 1992, my uncle put his all his heart and pride into the ownership of his second home. A modestly furnished, well kept, 4 bedroom house that my uncle poured everything into to make a home. His pride and joy for many years, it only took 12 months of unemployment to no longer have a home to return to. My uncle, once a proud and humble man has now been forced to reside in his truck, unable to afford gasoline to cut the sweltering Miami summer heat.

The inability to purchase necessary supplies to live independently was a strict and harsh reality for my uncle. His poverty forced him to consume meals at local soup kitchens, shower in clothes on the public beaches, and public restrooms. Always a modest man and prideful never asking for help his health went into question. Mental health started to deteriorate leaving him with partial dementia with no money to seek help. Life to him was no longer about what’s going on in the world, but how am I going to survive tonight?

A person changes when backed into a corner and...