The word is out. This is not news, but it is easy to ignore the situation, especially when it seems to blend into the background. Especially when we are able to ignore it and it may just go away on its own.
What is the word out about?
There are many people who have desperate needs, with no backstop to prevent them from tumbling into despair and hopeless pits. They see no on helping, and the truth is there are few who care. Families, friends and neighbors may step in to help, but since they know the backstory it’s easy to judge the situation, the needs, the players, and the probable outcome. Social agencies may provide some help but most are already stretched thin so it often comes down to FIFO (First In, First Out), or finding the neediest and touching their problems with the most energy possible, all the while, there are untold thousands that need daily help.
From the homeless through the laundry list of the neediest among us, there are more that need than there are those willing or capable to give.
While traveling to an important meeting out of state, I make it to my room for a couple hour rest and find a lady in the lobby with her 4 children (ages 6 months to about 7 years). I think nothing about it. They seem happy just to be sitting and relaxing.
Later, as I try to leave for evening obligations I find my car blocked by police cars, and the officers dealing with this same family in the parking lot. I ask at the front desk, and learn nothing but the fact that they had been a guest the night before. I ask the lady with the children in between her discussions with the police officers. She has fled a domestic violence situation, and shown up in the local area because an aunt would try to help, and her help equaled one night at the hotel. It seems most of her family suggests she should go back home and make things right with her husband.
Have we ever seen that scenario work out successfully before? Sure. But since we also know the horrific results that can happen I’m thinking we need to cut her some judgemental slack and let’s help find a resolution that protects her and the kids.
Here they are. No food. No assistance. No direction. No place to go next.
And the hotel has eased her out of her room and out of the lobby.
A kind fellow traveler comes out of his room and brings her $20 to help, and I give her enough for another night at the hotel. She kept refusing the money, but I told her the responsibility for the kids was greater than her pride of not receiving. The police are caring and tryinig to resolve the issue in front of them, but we all know that a more important call could send them screaming down the streets with lights and sirens.
Now. I’ve been around the block a time or two, and so have you. We all know the scams that exist by people who want an easy life of bumming money at the street corner, or car by car at the shopping center. They are happy living their lives in this manner and look for the gullible to prey on.
Back in the 80’s, in downtown Houston, a homeless guy asked me for money to buy food. I refused but told him I would buy him a meal at the fast food place across the street. Although a bagged meal with a drink was thankfully received, the drink was tossed to the ground, and the food was devoured in just a few bites. I felt better providing sustenance, and not just a fist full of money. But more than the kindness of a stranger providing lunch is needed.
Somehow we have to step up the ability to help, while focusing on preventing these situations from arising in the first place. Even if we know that there are scammers who will scam, and liars who will paint the bleakest picture, there are many more who are simply caught in a bad situation and they don’t have a clue as to their next step.
The lady and children above? Two small garbage sacks with a change of clothes each. A few diapers for the toddler. A broken screen tablet with a charger the older one held on to with a tight grip.
I don’t know what the answer is, but I think we must keep trying to find the solution. The Bible gives us some focus. Care to read between the words that are thousands of years old and determine if you are following them?
- “For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.” Mark 14:7 (KJV)
- “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 1:27 (KJV)
- “And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me” Matthew 25:33-40 (NKJV)
- ”If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit” Leveticus 25:35-37
What I find is the concept that this is not a new problem, and it is something we will always have to deal with. While at the same time I like the saying I’ve heard for a long time:
Give a man a fish and you feed him for the day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Click To Tweet
I’m not saying that you have to capability of touching each need with the same fervor that the one that tugs at your heart string with four set of young eyes looking for an answer.
I am saying that if everyone of us stepped up to help just one person, we would make a difference in our world. And that person helped? They become a supporter of others themselves. Why? Because they’ve been where they see so many others are … Just like they were themselves.
More people helped = More people that will help…