Interesting Facts about US Consumption

[Socialite]

aegsm, I grew up on food stamps. I remember the humility in paying for my mother's groceries with them. I had a household larger than 10. We lived on the "other side of town." I had friends in the same socio-economic status. I too have been there, done that and still have some of the same dingy shirts. I lived temporarily in a hotel. I know what a job layoff can do to a family. I saw the effects of poverty on siblings that are so marred and a mess by the oppression that comes with it. Being younger may have been a privilege after all.

I'm not creating a diversion. I can go into any Christian forum or hang-out and talk about poor, and the majority of my fellow Evangelicals harbor similar views as yours.

I can careless about your version or mine. I care about what's right.

Hoovie, I certainly am not suggesting a good work ethic is the alternative. The opposite of entitlement may be laziness, but there's a lot on the subject of poverty that's in the middle, not the margins. Most of the forums like this camp out ideas and thoughts about those margins.

And Hoovie, I can't tell you how many homeless people we serve in our City are "regulars." Some of them are cold, thankless, and yes, entitled. One of them spit out our Christmas dinner and complained that it wasn't seasoned to his liking. Yet we loved him. In fact, more than the dinner, that's what we were there for. These fellows have become so calloused and bitter with life, feel helpless and lonely, and see through the phoniness of youth groups that come once a year to pass out their food. I don't justify his thankfulness and indecency, but I understand it. And I'm always praying "God, break my heart for what breaks yours." There's not a single one of them that are not in His image and that He doesn't love.

I received grace so undeserved and so generously, and I give out in the same measure.

Grace heals and changes. It's light and salt (pun intended) that makes a difference. Some of our "regulars" have made progress, getting into assisted living, job training, some just making the simple step of feeling loved and respected. Some will continue to suffer with their medical conditions, alcoholism and addictions... and others like a few I know will rise beyond their circumstance and be one of those who serves alongside us to places he once lived.

Hoovie, I'm not questioning your personal outreach to the poor. I'm really not. I don't know you. But the attitude some have toward poverty in general (which is not even a fraction represented by those who live in populated shelters and streets) is ill-informed and/or informed by a prejudice of capitalism that demands people earn the treatment they receive.