Every now and then it just gets to me…the persistent procession of those in need who file through this office every day. They are behind on their rent and about to be evicted….or they haven’t paid a power bill (Alabama Power Co. is one of the most expensive electric utilities in the country as is Mobile Gas)…their water is about to be cut off…It never ends, and it wouldn’t matter how much money I had in my discretionary account….It is never enough….many who visit us looking for help are either homeless or just about to be….some just bow their heads and weep when I tell them I am out of funds. Many are addicts seeking any way possible to maintain their habit. Perhaps the problem is amplified by our sagging economy, because all so-called “help agencies” tell me they are pressed financially as well….the problem of poverty seems greater than the solution; always has; now it seems overwhelming. Must it be always this way? Shall the poor be with us always….a bone to pick with the gospel writer.
Another observation is that many, if not the majority of these people that come to us are sick…persistent colds, bronchitis, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, anxiety and depression, and many other maladies…We are asked often to pay for prescription deductibles all the time for blood pressure medication, medication for depression, for pain…many of these people are quite at the end of their rope….I never say the words to these people, “Jesus loves you”, because they would be hollow and dismissive….but I do believe that we as the body of Christ must find a way to love them, and by love, I mean that we are to see to their well being and dignity….I believe Jesus loves them, but how does that love become manifest when it seems so insideously indifferent?
The Mobile Race Relations Committee watched a documentary recently entitled In Sickness and in Wealth in which a medical study conducted in Louisville Kentucky discovered that one’s health and well being is directly related to one’s socio-economic status…I always thought the greatest problem in our health-care system was access…and access to primary health care is a serious problem; but the greater issue lies in who is getting sick the most, and who has the disproportionate advantage of staying well. The study clearly shows average life expectancy tracking directly with one’s socio-economic status…There are some obvious reasons for this…lack of insurance coverage, lack of access to affordable healthy food in poor neighborhoods…the stress that comes with joblessness, or with extremely demanding menial work….On the other side of the coin, people who made high incomes, even though encountering high levels of stress generally had a sense of empowerment, a sense of control over their destinies…and as a control group they are healthier. Life expectancy from top to bottom of the economic ladder varied fifteen years. So empowerment and a sense of well being socially and economically is at the heart of the matter.
The documentary points out that in the mid nineteen twenties life expectancy in this country was forty five years old. After the government instituted the New Deal and the jobs programs after the Great Depression and after full employment during world war two, life expectancy jumped by fifteen years in the mid fifties. The U.S. in the late seventies ranked first in life expectancy…now we are out of the top twenty compared to other countries…The growing disparity of wealth of this country, the shrinking middle class, and the intransigence of being poor and staying poor, is making us sick….and causing many to lose hope…spend a day here and you will see.
So what do we do to love the least among us….We need to empower them to live productive and dignified lives…a meaningful jobs bill now being debated would be a good start. We need our politicians, and we need to tell them so, to work jointly on addressing the gross inequities and injustices in our country…injustices and inequities that have gotten much worse in the last twenty five years….fair taxation, fair lending practices, adequate health-care, good schools, employment opportunities….and a chance for hope and a renewal of a sense of destiny…surely as people of faith we have something to say to our leadership whom we elect, that we can’t let the gap between rich and poor grow any longer….There are some who would wish the Federal Government “out of our business”….Quite the opposite is needed, just like we needed it in 1929. We need our elected leadership to act with compassion, imagination and above all in solidarity for the good of the whole, especially for the sick and voiceless among us….get going for God’s sake!…I want to say to the ones who come to our door, desperate,…. that Jesus loves you, and mean it.
Your post coincides with this article in today’s MPR: http://blog.al.com/wire/2011/09/us_poverty_rate_at_15_highest.html. The headline reads, “US Poverty Rate at 15%; highest since 1983.”
Government action can help, yes, but it takes citizens making choices as well. Perhaps the Southeastern Conference or local Mardi Gras Associations should declare a jubilee year. Instead of football games and parades, universities and mystic societies would donate their proceeds to churches and charities. Instead of watching football or parades, passive spectators would become active citizens spending their weekend Sabbath or the last two weeks of Epiphany volunteering for Habitat for Humanity or cleaning up dilapidated areas of the city or mentoring kids at a Boys and Girls Club. Drug dealers could declare a jubilee from malevolent profit-seeking and violence and, instead, help parade-goers-turned-active-citizens rebuild inner-city neighborhoods. Our choices reflect our priorities.
A reading from Matthew a few weeks ago talked about taking up one’s cross. Such teaching is purported to be good news, but one wonders these days whether the Gospel is received as any sort of news at all. As far as the jubilee suggestion goes, my bet’s on “not gonna happen.” In fact, it seems foolish even to suggest it. Paul talks alot about what is foolishness in his first letter to the Corinthians. A meditation might be done on this more contemporary quote by Alec Guinness playing Jedi master Obi-wan Kenobi in Star Wars, Episode IV, “Who’s the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?”
O Fortuna!
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