humans as trash.

I heard a story of an immigrant that, in his own words, "was born trash, lived as trash, and will be thrown in the trash at his death"  He spent his life picking through the trash for food and clothes and to find things he could sell.  The journalist he was talking to was asking him if he could talk to him and maybe take photos, and he seemed shocked that someone would talk to him about his life.
He agreed to cooperate, because those anonymous words by that journalist would be the only proof the world would have that he had lived.
Listening to them tell the story (NPR, I don't remember more, because it had me choking on tears in the driveway.)

I'm not an easy crier.

That story made me aware of the number of people that see themselves as nothing.  They are hopeless.  They have no one that cares if they live or die.  No one thanking god for them.

And, they are invisible most of the time.

The thing most of them have in common is they are poor and powerless.

Most countries turn a blind eye to the poor.  They are like cracks in the sidewalk---expected but not important.

Syria currently has an over 80% poverty rate.  Their most recent GDP places them at 66th place.
The USA has a rate of 15%, falling between Tunisia and Sweden and tying with Belgium.
The USA has the highest GDP in the world.
Tunisia's GDP is 84th.
Sweden's GDP is 23rd and Belgium is 26th.

That was by Gross Domestic Product.
If you use the Gross Domestic Product per capita, things change a bit.
At that point, the USA is the 11th ($59,532 per capita), Belgium was 19th ($47,561 per capita), Sweden was 18th ($50,070 per capita)and Tunisia was 96th ($11,911 per capita).

That means that Qatar http://www.borgenmagazine.com/the-qatar-poverty-rate/, Luxembourg https://borgenproject.org/luxembourg-poverty-rate/, Singapore https://borgenproject.org/poverty-singapore/, Macau https://borgenproject.org/poverty-in-macau/, Hong Kong https://borgenproject.org/poverty-rate-in-hong-kong/, Brunei https://borgenproject.org/poverty-in-brunei/, Ireland https://borgenproject.org/poverty-in-ireland/, United Arab Emirate https://borgenproject.org/poverty-in-the-united-arab-emirates/, Kuwait https://borgenproject.org/poverty-in-kuwait/, Switzerland https://borgenproject.org/7-facts-poverty-switzerland/, San Merino https://borgenproject.org/poverty-san-marino/ and Norwayhttps://borgenproject.org/look-poverty-norway/ all had a higher GDP per capita than the United States.

So highest GDP, not highest GDP per capital in the USA.  And higher GDP per capita is related more to the number of very rich people than the amount the average person is making or the number of poor people in the country.
The USA has 15% poverty rate.
That means that fifteen of every hundred of our people is invisible and powerless.
One thing that is always true in every country and in every time; children and the elderly are always the most vulnerable poor.
About 49% of babies born into poverty will remain poor throughout their lives. So 7 of every 100 people born in the United States are born invisible and powerless, born throw-a-ways, born trash.

When I was a little girl, my grandmother, who considered cats to be nasty but necessary around a farm told about when she was small, "younger than I was" is what she said, her parent told her to put the latest batch of kittens in a burlap bag and take them out to the pond and throw it in.
She didn't want to, but a "switch" convinced her.  She handled her farm cat population herself until she was in her 80's, when she developed a most surprising attachment to her barn cats, letting them not only take over her buildings, but feeding them scraps daily.  She was dismayed when they all disappeared on week. The cougar paw prints and screams explained that, but what was shocking was---"she was dismayed" at the loss of the kittens.  Suddenly they weren't nasty creatures with no reason to live, they had value to her.

Maybe they just stopped being invisible to her.

How do we start seeing that 15% of our population as people like us, deserving of our empathy and compassion.

How do we stop treating 15% of our population like rubbish?

How do we make them visible, empowered, worthy of a decent life?

I am personally fond of the idea of getting rid of actual poverty--change our taxation system to a leveling system, so that no one pays taxes on the amount of money that is considered poverty level.  And we need to make sure that the poverty level is based on real numbers per geographic regions.  Our Federal poverty number is $12,140 and $4,180 for each additional family member.  Obviously that amount is more likely to work in some areas than others.  I realize that places like Beverly HIlls and Fifth Avenue cost a lot, as much to keep out the poor as to make a living.  Rich people like to only see rich people.  

Maybe that is how the poor became invisible in the first place.

But we need to make getting rid of poverty a goal for our country instead of just trying to hide our poor.

No more homelessness.
No more Hunger.
No more lack of healthcare--including mental health and addiction treatment.
No more lack of educational opportunity from lack of funds.
And we need jobs that allow all to contribute to society with their time and efforts, not like a punishment, but like a recognition that most people want to participate, to contribute, to be partners in our country.

No one's future should be determined by their accident of birth circumstances.
No old people should find themselves choosing between rent, food, and medicine.

Life is never trash.