Yesterday over 150 families lined up to receive assistance in our Emergency Resource Center here on Haskell Avenue in inner city East Dallas.
It happens every single day.
People, most of whom are working, come to us every day seeking aid.
It is a national shame.
Almost every family has at least one person working--most have more than one person working in the family units who come to us at Central Dallas Ministries.
The problem is the wages that people are able to bring home are not sufficient to sustain life for families.
The story is the same every single day.
"Yes, I have a job," people tell us.
"I make $9.50 an hour," a man reported recently with a measure of self-assurance.
Think about it.
Analyze it--$9.50 an hour.
Could you live on $19,760 gross annually?
The problems will not go away.
What we need is a national initiative to conquer poverty, while no longer blaming the poor.
Education, health care, housing, nutrition and hope are needed now as never before.
Where is the voice of faith?
Benevolence committees won't get the job done.
An ideology informed by faith is required.
What will we do?
It is past time for action.
We have plenty of options as citizens of faith living in a democracy.
7 comments:
Nearly every church of which I've been a member has done an excellent job of meeting the needs of the middle and upper classes.
Every church of which I've been a member has consisted of middle and upper classes.
Wouldn't it be great to see Jesus come into a budget meeting with a red pencil and get things turned around? It seems that most of our contributions are going to sustain our middle/upper class churches.
I'm embarrassed and ashamed.
I guess the revolution starts with me and what I do with my time and money.
When I was in high school, I played Jesus for the VBS celebrations. The kids were amazed and listened reverently to anything "Jesus" said. If you think it would have the same effect, I'd be happy to visit some budget meetings.
Larry, could you offer up your vision of the ideal state of government, companies, non-profits, churches, and individuals working together for a just society?
A lot of people seem to get hung up on taxes vs. contributions, and who can be trusted to do what. If you were named President of all of the above groups for a year, what system would you implement to make this country a true land of opportunity?
I feel we get glimpses or pieces of this, but never what the whole system would look like, so people are reacting to each idea as it fits in with existing conditions.
Is the task to eliminate poverty? Or is it to marshall our resources to alleviate poverty's consequences?
I think the latter, based upon Jesus' "the poor you'll always have with you" statement.
I would love to think that the churches of America could marshall their resources and tackle the job of dulling poverty's pangs. Without government getting involved. I'm just dubious of big government's ability to do it right.
Our future is at stake. We are facing a huge problem that will only continue to get worse unless we stand up and demand that government, churches and business address the issues of the working poor. 47% of the students in one large urban school district are on free and reduced lunch. The challenges of educating a child that is hungry or worried that dad might not be able to pay the rent, are huge. Educators are fighting a war everyday in the classroom and the enemy is poverty, robbing young children of their ability to explore, wonder and learn because they are dealing with adult size problems. These kids have to stay home to babysit while mom stand for hours in line to get help with the rent. Some have to translate for their parents about issues they should not even know about much less be discussing. We must stand up for the kids because they hold our future.
Tim, see many of Larry's previous posts about what Jesus meant when he said that.
Personally, I think our goal should be to end poverty. Why not? The only reason would be the feeling of entitlement and ownership among the wealthy. How easily they have forgotten that they are but stewards, not owners, of this world.
From what I've read, it seems that Jesus was far more of a communist than a capitalist.
Educator, in Dallas, we have some public high schools with a 43% graduation rate. Imagine that. If you take 10 freshman, only 6 will graduate.
THAT is a tragedy. It is an immoral, unethical situation, and an entirely too accurate statement of our collective inability to provide for the poor.
Tim, if you interested in taking a fresh look at those words of Jesus about he poor, please go to my post on January 18, 2005. Thanks.
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