Jan 23 blog

January 23, 2011

“Are there no work houses? Are there no prisons? If the surplus population is going to die than let them hurry up about it , it is no business of mine" Ebenezer Scrooge
In the mid 1800 's Charles Dicken's wrote that dialog in the novel A Christmas Carole. The ghost of Scrooge’s deceased partner, Jacob Marley, answered Scrooge with “Mankind IS your business”

The best way to judge a society is by how it treats the weaker members. So how are you doing in that department? How do you think we as citizens of the US of A are doing? When was the last time you helped someone that had a true need? Or perhaps, when was the last time some one helped YOU when you were the one in need?
On the purely political level, poverty affects us all. On a personal level, I'm a Christian, and as such, it is my DUTY to care. On a simply non-religious but moral level-if I don't care, who will? If I don't care for my fellow man in times of need, how can I expect anyone else to care what happens to me?

I recently asked this question in the course of group conversations or when standing in a line somewhere and listening to people growl about people using food stamps or making remarks about someone’s personal hygiene or the cleanliness of their clothing. I got some answers that give me insight into the heart of a people; some of it is good and some of it is sad.
One school of thought on poverty that someone fired back at me was, “The majority of people who are in poverty are there because of the decisions they made throughout their lives. Aside from being disabled in some way, there's no excuse to be poor in this country where you can do anything you want. Government dependency is a main factor in poverty too. People want the government to take care of them instead of taking care of themselves.”
“People being too lazy or addicted to crack or whatever else their problem may be is certainly not a problem of mine. I work hard and pay my taxes and I don’t like it that my tax dollars are stolen and given to people who are too lazy to work. If someone is poor and gets handed food and shelter then what is his motivation to rise up out of poverty? There is none!”
“I'm not a christian and I’m not religious at all. Religion is all based on emotion. People should instead look at things logically - unlike you. You look at the issue of poverty with emotion rather than logic. But unfortunately, people are so hard headed that emotion seems to trump logic every time. We can care, but instituting things like welfare is a death sentence. Welfare goes against everything that is American and everything that can possibly make a country work.”


Yes I’ve gotten some answers to my questions. But my answer is still we should care, because we don't know the circumstances. We can't judge all poor people to be the same. Many people who are poor are born into poverty, which is not their fault. Many people have made bad choices or may have mental problems. Some people were doing just fine and lost everything due to some catastrophe like serious illness or loss of a job, or GASP this wonderful economy we are all struggling with.

I am not saying that I don’t have my days of having Scrooge like thoughts myself. I am ashamed of myself for having those thoughts too and I usually have to stop and pray for forgiveness. We can't pass judgment on people when we don't know what has happened. We're all on this planet together, like it or not.