The Forgotten

Photographer: Maddie Flavin

"Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat." --Mother Teresa

A Children's museum with laughing children. A street fair playing loud popular music and people dancing to the beats. Horns honking from the Sunday morning traffic and impatient commuters trying to reach their destination. These are all the sounds heard in downtown Tucson on this Sunday morning, but walk about a block away from all this commotion in the heart of the city and there you will find the tranquility of Armory Park. In the center of the park you will find this monument honoring those who had served in World War I with the words "Lest We Forget" engraved on the side. "Lest We Forget" is often used to remember those casualties of the War and to honor those who had served. A very powerful monument in a park full of a homeless community who has simply been forgotten by the general public. In the back of this photograph we can see a homeless man reading a book, but surrounding him you will find a man sleeping under a tree clutching his possessions, or another searching through the garbage cans in search of something to eat or something valuable. While the city of Tucson honors and remembers the veterans of wars through the monument the city fails to remember the homeless community who calls Armory Park "home." The homeless community live life as "The Forgotten," and pray for something better in life someday, but first have to be remembered that they are living on the streets, rather than avoided