The Widow's Mite and What Might Befall Us All

This isn't news, I know, and I apologize to Omar and the Howlers for appropriating their sentiment as well as their song title, when looking around at what I can only believe is Hard Times in the Land of Plenty.

We read about it every day and a not inconsequential part of our politics at the national and state level is arguing about into how many pieces we can slice an ever-dwindling pie. The discussion, such as it is, often overlooks that not only don't all of us have pie, so much as we possess neither plates nor forks.

This very hard winter has made The Invisible Poor far less and so far more often right here in our region and our city. There are more and more people shivering in the cold, clutching cardboard signs at exits and entrances to shopping malls and stores seeking work, shelter or food, sometimes all. I lack the resources to help them and I can't watch them nor can I look away. There but for the grace....

Yesterday one of our local newspapers had a story on the impact the hungry and homeless are feared to be having on efforts to use our riverine resources to attract outdoor recreationalists. Read it for yourself.

I hope you'll agree it's a well-written article by a very hard-working young reporter that is very even-toned in its assessment and report. There are no good guys and bad guys, heroes and villains, here-it's a sad situation and we each need all the help we can get to work out of it.

That's why I was saddened and sickened by a reader's reaction, "just put them all in jail!" President Lyndon Baines Johnson, LBJ, as part of his Great Society declared a War on Poverty that, despite so many well-meaning people working together, seems a half century later to more closely resemble the 100 Years' War. That's just an aside to my attempt at a point on the reader's reaction that so disheartens me.

The poster, as is his write/right, adds, "they hang in front of modanna (sic) place drinking and drugging all day and no one does anything to stop them!" If I may: if you're going to hate on people for what has happened to them and for events over which they may not have control (suggested in the article itself) it might be nice to learn to spell the location of the place you think is the nexus.

In my lifetime, we have gone from a War on Poverty to attacking the poor. If you're more than a paycheck away from being in a cardboard lean-to, covered with a plastic bag to keep the cold out, then you have my congratulations because a LOT of us aren't.

And how the hell does a broken box and a plastic garbage bag keep single digit temperatures from chilling and killing anyone forced by circumstance and otherwise to live like that?

The effort to enhance revenue streams and increase the tax flow for the city is just the ticket we need and I'm fortunate to know the very generous man (with both his time and treasure) who's attempting to raise awareness on an issue he sees as a challenge requiring all of our efforts.

And he's right and if more of us can agree we need to treat one another with the same dignity and compassion we would wish for ourselves, we would all be a lot better off. In terms of the Widow's Mite, I confess I've never been good at quoting the Bible, Old or New Testament, so you'll have to look it up for yourself but I can't help but notice how rarely even those, maybe especially those, who can and do quote are willing to live its words everyday in their own lives.

The poverty reflected in our wallets need not find its echo in our hearts and souls. No one wins unless everyone wins. Hand-wringing is not help-bringing. Amen.
-bill kenny