Music Star Saves Families From Foreclosure
It's true, Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas put forward $350,000 of his own money to save two families from losing their homes. That's half of the good news. The other half is that Will.i.am has set up the i.am home fund to continue doing this for other families, so this won't be the last we hear of families being saved from foreclosure.
The bad side to this is this is bigger news than the good things done by Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. There, it may not be obvious why the chosen family was selected over any other applicants, but it's obvious why the family was chosen — the selected families are always people who massively contribute to their community and/or society in some way. In short, they're ideal role models, people who we should all look up to and who we should all thank should we pass them in the streets. These families Oprah and Will.i.am helped are, as far as any of us can tell based on what we've been told, average families facing the same problems as thousands upon thousands of families, maybe even many millions of families, are facing right now in the United States alone. As far as we've been told, these families are only in dire financial straits, and in at least one case there's obviously more they could have done to avoid the situation they were recently rescued from. It would be terrible to sell your dream home, but is it worse to have a home that is simply not your dream home, or to have no home at all?
Don't get me wrong. It's great that Oprah and Will.i.am have helped these two families, it really is. But in the absence of any endearing qualities presented I think we need to be asking some hard questions. Why these families? Why not the applicants before and/or after them? Why two families owing a total of almost $350,000 and not three or four families each owing $100,000? Why not families who can demonstrate they did absolutely everything possible to get things under control? Do these families have some underlying issue that should be addressed to avoid other financial issues down the road? Why not bring in two (or three) families who had just lost their house and spend that same amount to pay all or most of a mortgage for a respectable house? Not necessarily a massive tens of thousands of square feet house, but a respectable thing they can securely live in at least until they get back on their feet. Or maybe live in forever. I know I sound callous, but this, and to a certain extent Extreme Makeover: Home Edition as well, leave me wondering why the people involved were chosen over others. I think it's great that we have charities and individuals who are willing to do these wonderful things, but I also think we need at least some assurances that the recipients are not only deserving of the help, but are also able to sustain themselves and aren't likely to end up in the same or similar situation. With Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, those assurances are at least mostly there. With Oprah's lucky recipients, we don't know. I sincerely hope that the i.am home fund can make these assurances, because it's a great idea that deserves good press.
