I find myself, readers, back in my home town and without a job. Again. And yet, I'm more affluent now than I've been in years. I've been thinking a lot about my unearned privilege and wondering how it's possible for an out of work English teacher / writer / all-around badass can be doing a better job "making it" than she was when she had several jobs at once. I think I've figured it out, so this is going to be a relatively short post.
Things are easier for me in Ohio (specifically the Cleveland area) because I am lucky enough to have a network of family and friends who are not going to let me so much as leave the house with unkempt hair to go to a job interview, let alone let me go hungry. Yeah, the economy sucks. We know this. But why are some of us feeling it a lot harder than others?
In a matter of hours, I went from being in the former category of people to being in the latter category. That's insane. Because as a human collective, we should be doing everything we can think to do to prevent people from falling into the category of people who are hungry, tired, have nowhere to go and no one to whom they can turn.
My point is simple this time. And unabashedly biblical.
If you see a hungry person, feed her.
If you see a naked person, clothe him.
If you see someone in need of comfort, comfort her.
If you see someone who is thirsty, give him a drink of water.
It isn't a difficult concept to understand, but I'm seeing that it seems to be very difficult for people to implement.
We need to serve one another. Not because the economy is difficult right now, but because it is the right thing to do.
I'm guilty of lacking in this area. So are you. So is everyone who is not reading this post.
Let's change it.
3 comments:
Thanks for this post!
Maybe you should go into social work.
Sorry Baltimore didn't work out, Manda. You can blame me, 'cause I was praying that God get you to where you needed to be.
Anyway, as for your post, I have to agree wholeheartedly. I've found in the eight months that I've been serving this church that the hardest possible thing to do with my congregation is to get them to actually involve themselves in any sort of outreach to the immediate community. There are 68 households in this town, and only one attends this church. Three others are former members. The rest? Got me. But even if I go and speak to everyone in this town individually, until the members of my church open their doors, hearts, and minds, this church simply won't grow. And when the average age is over 60, that doesn't bode well.
Thank you so much for reminding us what we should be doing.
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