Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Beggers
Have You Heard the One About: When bankers go to Washington they “ask” for bailouts and no interest loans. When starving people ask for food we call that “begging”. What’s the difference? The bankers shave. For that they get $699,999,999,999 more than the beggar. That’s funny without being funny!
What You Might Expect Me to Say about Beggars: Give to those who ask of you, without expecting a return. You who know me know that I have been deeply shaped by a story of Jesus saying when we give food or drink or clothing or visits to the poor and wounded we do it to Jesus himself. So giving to beggars is doubly sacred and is also a privilege.
But that’s Not the Whole Story, Is It? If you and I both give $5.00 to a meth user or a drunk, we could get them horrendously high tonight. This might even be the night they tip over the edge and become violent toward others, maybe even their own children, or to themselves; or the night it kills them.
Here’s Where I Get into Trouble: If we really want to invest in a desperate human’s healing, a buck isn’t enough! If we kept the next ten single dollars we were going to give to ten beggars on the side of the road, and on the eleventh, took time to hear their story, took them to a restaurant, and gave them phone numbers to our church and/or another agency, and let them use our cell phone for a five minute call to their closest family member, wouldn’t that feel different? And it might cost $11.00! And an hour or less.
Of course we would need to 1) mitigate any silly risks associated with this effort, and 2) not think we have a right to a successful turnaround to mainstream living from anyone we take the time to help.
I love that you want to help people enough that you chose to read this piece. But I hope you will put real effort in your help. Otherwise it might not be help. But if you do take a beggar to dinner, you might well feel better knowing you learned their name and the names/situations of their family.
Don’t Lie to Yourself: You can get roped in by cons in a heartbeat if you go out like a lamb among lions on the street. Yes, also drugs and alcohol and mental problems are endemic out there. But there are many honest people who beg who are just desperate enough to not always act as they would if they weren’t desperate. You are called to care. Wisely done, without silly expectations, it can change you as much as it changes them.
And some of your best compassion is put into voting, and/or supporting churches and agencies that do real work for the hurting that we as individuals can’t do. And volunteering. And loving a wounded kid on your block so he/she doesn’t become the next generation on that same street.
Do well.
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1 comment:
For some reason, I've been thining of this post a lot lately. several reasons I think. I think that for some reason, all the state budget talks have me thinking about it most. Finding out last fall that our gov. wanted to put a cap on Healthy Families (luckily that cap is gone again... but i was outraged back then) and then to find out he wants to cut the California Conservation Corps...Education is always on the block, most Gov. aid is as well. It makes me so very upset. my personality and my study in Social work gives my consious this ability to be upset, I think. My husband says (because he likes to be devil's advocate!): "well, costs have to be cut somewhere, where would you cut?"
I think about all the people out there who are hurting, I think about those who's first reaction is that they got themselves in that mess, you have no idea how many times I've tried to be an advocate for someone in a particular situation and had anohter someone say "why should I help them, when they got themselves into that mess!?" It is often this voice in my head that doesn't allow myself to give to the everyday begger on the street. I even often will not make eye contact with someone who is holding a "will work for food" sign because I'm afraid of seeing how human they really are.
These days, when times are tough, I find myself in a space where I cannot give like I used to, which wasn't ever near as much as I wanted to. When times were good, I would do things to support organizations that helped those in need, since I was never brave enough to personally help anyone myself. I used to give a bag of groceries to the church's food bank at least 1x every other month, though every month was my goal and I did that many times. Now, I really can't afford to give away a bag of groceries, trying to be on a budget that only alots $400 per mo. on food for a family of 5 (including 2 growing boys who literally eat us out of house and home). At the same time, It makes me more grateful for what I have too, because at least I can afford to feed my own family and I think about those who actually have to beg for food. How would I feel if I had to beg for food? I would be devistated, depressed, embarressed...I have no doubt that people begging for food, money, etc are feeling the same way.
And then I read on about what we could do more then just give away money... like you said, talking to them, finding out their life story, letting them use a phone to call their nearest relative... reminds me a bit of the movie "pay it forward". As you said, we would first need to "mitigate any silly risks associated with this effort" and as a mom of 2 children, it's not something I'm brave enough to risk at this moment in time.
In this new era of our country, in my own new era of life (for me, new home, new year, new financial means, new job, turing the big 3-0, etc, etc), I will look at ways to aid those in need that fits me, my personality, my means, my heart, more comfortably.
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