I’VE ALWAYS LOVED THE NEW TESTAMENT STORY of the miracle of the loaves and fishes.
Jesus’ disciples look at a great crowd that had gathered to see Jesus, and when Jesus proposes that the crowd be fed, his disciples point out that there are five loaves of bread and a few fish, far less than could possibly satisfy the hunger of thousands.
Jesus answers the doubts of his disciples with overflowing abundance — abundance not only from him directly, but spread by and through each member of the crowd. There can be no limit to his generosity, and the more his followers share it, the more comes pouring out.
The company I work for occasionally offers the opportunity to do a volunteer day feeding the homeless of San Francisco at Glide Memorial Church in the gritty Tenderloin neighborhood. I have volunteered several times, and every time I do I’m moved beyond words.
There is something about giving food to the hungry that strips away whatever it is in me that resists seeing love in the world. There they stand, some neatly dressed, some in little more than street-grimed rags, and they silently ask me to feed them, and in their vulnerability and their wounds I see the Face of Christ, and Him crucified.
I always think, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should enter under my Roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”
I see an old man sitting at one of the tables, missing his front teeth, and I see another old man offer him his soft dinner roll with a look of humble and saintly kindness, and I realize that those two old men are Christ, showing me the Way to Heaven.
I see a man softly ranting, at once incoherent and deeply convinced, and see the other diners at his table listen attentively, as if he were a professor discussing the classics in a graduate seminar, and there I see the most simple and beautiful mercy made plain.
I see men and women pouring each other cups of water, and responding with simple gratitude, and it is the wedding at Cana, writ small.
I see this and think, “The Kingdom is at hand.” I see this and think, “Glory to God in the Lowest.”
But I also think, “Why, in a country as rich as ours, are there so many who have so little?”
Years ago, I lived in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland. Every single morning, as I walked to the bus that was the beginning of my commute, I would pass a guy who was usually deeply engrossed in conversation with a companion or companions he was hallucinating were there with him. I had learned somewhere that his name was Pete, and his hair was long, ragged and in a sort of dirt-imposed dreadlock style. He typically appeared not to have bathed in quite a while. He dressed in ragged, filthy clothes, and his eyes alternated between vacant and haunted. He would eat fast food leftovers out of garbage cans, and roll cigarettes from butts he collected.
I wouldn’t say he was “an immediate threat to himself or others” as defined by the law, and thus it would have done no good to call the police: he did feed himself, as I said, and he did not do things (at least that I saw) that represented a threat of serious, acute (as opposed to chronic, cumulative) harm to himself or others.
I was driving by one afternoon, eying a threatening mid-winter sky, and was suddenly sick at heart at the thought, “Tonight, Pete will sleep out in the rain. Huddled in some doorway, miserable and shivering.”
What could I do? It was eight days until payday, and the balance in my bank account was less than $50 and I was low on food, so I couldn’t get him a room, even if I’d convinced him somehow to accept it, and a motel manager to let him stay.
Pete’s condition and circumstances demanded attention — lots of it. He suffered terribly, every single day, because no one did anything for him, or at least no one did enough. He was a fixture of the neighborhood, and most people ignored him.
In my imagination, I can summon a very different world.
I can imagine a world where everyone in the neighborhood knows his name. I can imagine a world where lots of people greet him by name throughout the day. I can imagine a world where a steady stream of people say to him, gently and kindly, “Hey, Pete, how ya doin’? Man, you need to take your meds. What’s your doctor’s name again?”
I can imagine a world where his doctor gets a stream of calls, the gist of which is, “Doc, a bunch of us are concerned about Pete. He hasn’t been taking care of himself. What can we do to help?”
I can imagine a world that contains a place for him to live, that demands he be provided a place to live, where kindly people get after him about his meds, bathe him, give him loving kindness.
That world could be built, and it would not take very long to build it. The carpenters who need to build it, you and I, are not busy enough.
Matt Talbot is a writer and poet, as well as an old Benicia hand. He works for a tech start-up in San Francisco.
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Matt:
As always, interesting to read the words you write. I was particularly enjoying the first part until you got to the big “BUT”. Yes it is nice to dream of a nicer world and volunteering to help at places where people go to get help is certainly worthy. I do that myself. But there are also some other things we need to ponder. Most of the people in the circumstances you describe (not all) are there as a direct result of their own poor decision making. Many of those also don’t want help. Yes they may want a hand out so they can get their next fix but they don’t truly want help. I have tried on a number of times to offer up a meal to a homeless person and they are not interested. The ones who truly do want help, will seek out the shelters and I think that is a good place to give of your time. Maybe during those interactions, we may have an opportunity to help someone change their life.
Most of the people in the circumstances you describe (not all) are there as a direct result of their own poor decision making.
That seems to be the standard American Calvinist-derived take on things – poverty as divine punishment. What’s missing from that sort of understanding is any sense of God’s mercy spread through people willing to be His instruments.
I understand your comment. Yes God’s mercy that he sheds on us, we find difficult to share equally with others. I agree that in the case of the man in Rockridge, we as a society need to acknowledge them and try our best to lift them up, but there is only so much you can do for some people. Believe me, I have some in my own family. Unfortunately, many of them fight their own demons and will bite off their nose to spite their own face. Mental illness is a tough one. Please don’t mistake my commentary as being dismissal, cause that is not my intention at all. And on the other side of things we can’t mistake the fact that people made bad choices as them not having opportunities in their lives that they passed up and now some how are “entitled” to a hand out.
JLB,
As you recognize, the causes of poverty are both variable and complex and many people do in fact make decisions that do not benefit their particular situation. Years ago I read something that has stuck with me:
If a woman does three things:
1) Graduates from high school
2) Does not have a baby until married
3) Does not get married until 21
Of those who do the above only 2% are classified as being in a state of poverty.
Correction to the above. The correct figure is 10%, not 2%.
I do believe it our responsibility to help those in need. How they got there I do not care. Some help could bring them out of their situation. If it does not you have lost nothing and gained a lot. Helping others is our duty and we should be very happy doing it. Merry Christmas. It is the time of giving.
Great column, especially for this season. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, instead of the usual response of, “Well, they are there because of their own decisions; they just want our money for their next fix; they could be better if they only made the decision to finish school and not get pregnant, etc. etc.,” we went BACK to the Scriptures Matt referenced about the Loaves and Fishes? I’ve read that section many times; even preached on it once or twice, and NOWHERE does it say that Jesus and the disciples vetted the crowd to see who “deserved” to eat; they did not question the level of education each had; they did not complain about the fact that the crowd had made the “decision” to come hear Jesus without a brown bag lunch. No, the story says the miracle was JUST THE OPPOSITE – they went among the crowd, fed them with NO questions asked and, as they did, the abundance continued. The point, folks, was that if we give, generously, with no questions asked about the motive or histories of the recipients, WE will experience abundance of the spirit. Americans like to claim we are a “Christian” nation; we’re not because our idea of “Christian” is NOT the Gospels, it’s a skewed and distorted Calvinistic view of the world – those that have are more worthy of God’s favor than those who don’t, which is why we are so far behind the rest of the developed world in dealing with issues of poverty, education, healthcare, etc. etc.
j.furlong stated: they are there because of their own decisions; they just want our money for their next fix;
Nice distortion of what I said as well as the purpose behind what was stated.
Altruism will not end poverty, the New Deal did not, the War on Poverty did not and the government cannot.
I am all in favor of the spirit of giving which is advocated, but “giving” is the key word.
The proper roll of society should be to take care of those who cannot fend for themselves, while also encouraging people to make decisions that will benefit themselves and their family. I see too much of the former and too little of the later.
One can rob Peter to pay Paul only so long before Peter has too little left to take.
It is one thing to have a perspective but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it dictates or is representative of my behavior. I do give quite a bit to charitable causes, in fact WAY more than is reported by the multi-millionaire Al Gore when he was running for president. The libs are really good at taking my money and giving it to other people. I much prefer to give it as I see fit; where there is a need. Secondly, I do volunteer at places that feed the homeless and it is always a great experience.
The corporate world and the banks have bought the country in general and one particular political party, more specifically (while many dens are sumpathetic to the wants of the banks and big biz, the Whigs are a wholly owned subsidiary). They’re not concerned with humanity…they’re concerned only with the bottom line. If it makes them money…great! Otherwise, do all in their considerable power to stop it.
That is just simply SO NOT true. You just can’t make broad sweeping generalizations like that and expect to be taken seriously. That is like saying all blacks are criminals.
Interesting that THAT is the analogy you use. A nice peek into your subconscious. Actually, what I said IS true. Tell me what anti-corporation or pro-worker legislation the Whigs have proposed recently.
Come on, don’t be ridiculous. I chose that analogy on purpose to display how absurd you sound. Has nothing to do with my sub conscience. What are you some sort of mind reader?
Most blacks aren’t criminals. That you’re unable to answer my question proves the absurdity of your analogy, and strongly supports my original argument.
Not worthy of a response! Just too far gone from reality to even bother!
So, my original, ‘SO NOT TRUE’ post was worthy of a response, but asking for actual evidence to support your lame counter somehow crossed a line? Really?? Once again proves how consistently empty your ‘arguments’ are. If you could have answered the question, you would have gleefully done so.
OK you finally confirmed it. You’re an idiot!
As a guy that comes on here time after time to show little other than your own ignorance (claiming Whigs aren’t corporate friendly without any evidence…claiming reduced unemployment numbers are a WH conspiracy without any evidence, etc.), you really shouldn’t be the guy accusing others of being an ‘idiot’. It makes you come off as, well…an idiot.
With out money there is no charity. Both from the employee and the employer. Very simple Benician. Been going on for years. Your statement sounds a little Socialist. Maybe not, just anti Republican/Conservative. Just where would we be without big biz Benician? I will tell you. In the tank.
The virtue of charity is a theological concept of unlimited love and kindness. As such, one must consider charity as an integral part of gift culture. Gift culture serves to build communities, rather than that of the market, which only serves as an acid on communities.
How can the market in and of itself be an acid? Without the market, where would we be? We need to have a balance.
You’ve missed the point.
However, I’ll take a stab at this: “Without the market, where would we be?”
The question is not “where”, it is “what”. I must profess that I hope the answer to that is, “still human”.
Happy Holidays JLB!
Like most things in life, balance is key.
Merry Christmas to you too Enviro.