The Hungry, Alone and Homeless

Ah this one really spoke to me.  I hate those "get out of poverty" clubs. The local Catholic church has one, and I bet they will condemn the people in it and tell them that if they worked hard enough they'd rise up. They will be told they are not thinking "positive" enough. Most people need practical help not lectures.

Many of the poor are some of the hardest working people I know. In fact if this county held a working hard contest, I'd pick this fellow that works 70 hours a week at two low wage jobs. That guy loves his girlfriend and you can tell would do anything for her. They don't have a car either and he has to walk or bus his way to work. For all the talk of the "lazy" on Fox news in the inner cities, I saw some of the hardest working people on planet when I lived in some of most poor neighborhoods.

There's too many who look down from the ivory tower, throw down a few crumbs and then judge people for being hungry, alone or cold. Too many of the churches have grown more guilty of this because they they have become middle class and above clubs that teach the ethos of Ayn Rand and the Tea Party on behalf of the bankers more then what the Bible preaches about the poor. There are some that do help and seem to have a real spirit of giving without any meanness.

The bible warns about self righteousness for a reason. If one wants to help people, you can't consider them the "other" or "less human" then you, then you are doing them more harm. I've had people mock me for talking about homelessness or people in the streets. It is getting cold and hard out there. I've met too many people severely hurt while suffering in poverty or illness or homelessness, because they were looked down on. The help was given with resentment or from a position of superiority.

Poor people aren't choosing for the economy to collapse or the "good jobs" to be taken away. Some don't want to admit what is going on.  There is a hidden collapse to America that is going to become less and less hidden as time goes by. I just realized we escaped poverty leaving Chicago years ago and we were able to climb out. When we fell back in, the lack of mercy spoke for itself. What of people who face even worse? What of people who are totally alone in this world?

When I see people suffering worse then me, my first thought is not "What did they do to deserve it?" but "What can I do, or I wish I could do something for them?". Sadly too many think the former thought. I think others who have suffered have the most compassion. They have had it for me.