By Tony Attwood
Homelessness is a profound social problem in the US. There are at least 770,000 unhoused people nationwide, according to official figures. This has been addressed by the passing of hundreds of new bills criminalising sleeping outside or lingering in public spaces in the past two years. Bills which don’t actually provide homes for the homeless.
Homelessness is also a social problem in my country – the UK – although I think not on such a scale, even taking into account the different size of population.
I do something to help a tiny bit in the UK, since I am not an American citizen, and I have only visited the United States either as a straightforward tourist or to visit friends, but I don’t believe that anything from the world cup has made anything better for the homeless in the United States. They were homeless when the world cup started and they are now. And of course footballers who earn great amounts of money could give more than they do to help them. So could I, and I feel ashamed.
I celebrate Saka’s hattrick and his apparent return to form from a long spell of injury, but know it does nothing to help the oppressed in America. What’s good for Arssenal doesn’t make any difference to the homeless in the USSA.
Thus for quite a few people like myself, the World Cup in the United States has been an appalling spectacle which I have by and large avoided, but there are probably many more people who have enjoyed watching it on TV. I have tried to do a bit more, but I am not sure it is ver much.
I am left with the awful feeling that really there is so little I can do to help matters overall, to improve matters, to make life better for a few people. I give to one specific charity that has always been close to my family’s hearts, and having faced the reality of the last few weeks still have no idea what else to do.
If I were to stop watching football, or stop supporting Arsenal, it would make little difference to anyone save to me, wherein it will make my life seem a little more empty. I could do it, but will it make a difference?
This world cup has been a sad time. My opinion of the American government has declined but I don’t feel any better about myself. I prepare to watch the final; I really do wonder what we are all about. But more to the point I wonder what I am all about.
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