IN LITTLE WAYS
My husband and I got married when he was 22 and I was 18. He still had law school to complete, but we thought we could manage. He would work summers, and I would find a full time job that only required a high school diploma. We started well. Then our secondhand car died. Then I got pregnant and was hospitalized for hyperemesis. In just a few months, we were flat broke.
My small salary couldn’t cover child care, rent, utilities, medical and food. I foraged in vacant lots for bottles I could redeem, and my husband sold his blood each month. We weren’t truly poor. My husband could have quit school, and we had parents for emergency help. Still, it was an unforgettable taste of what poverty is like.
I got another taste when I contracted Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I had been a full time teacher who served in multiple ministries at church and ran 2 to 5 miles a day. Now I could barely leave my bed. Securing a medical retirement with a pension and, later, Social Security disability required numerous doctor visits, stacks of paperwork and a series of interviews with various officials to prove I truly could not work and was not “just depressed” or just tired of my job.
Even with the loss of my income, we weren’t poor. I was, however, receiving government benefits. I quickly learned how uncomfortable that can be. I remember one nurse questioning how I, at age 50, could qualify for Medicare. CFS has no visible symptoms. So when I told her I was disabled, she gave me a look filled with skepticism. She clearly wondered what kind of scam I was pulling.
We Americans are a decent people. We vote in favor of various public programs, and we donate generously to charity. Yet we remain suspicious of those who receive such benefits. We believe that anyone who works hard can get ahead in this country. Therefore, those who remain poor must be lazy or crooked. Welfare abuse, however, isn’t nearly as common as we fear, and most abuse statistics include errors by social workers and over-billing by service providers.
People are poor for many reasons. Poor education leaves young people without marketable skills. Illness can quickly wipe out savings. The minimum wage barely covers childcare expenses. A worker may not have a car or live near public transportation. If parents seldom worked, their adult children may lack the experience or drive to look beyond government support. Only sometimes is poverty the result of past crimes or substance abuse.
But even if the poor brought their troubles on themselves, do we really want to leave them, and their children, to rot? What would be the consequences for our economy and social harmony? Do we really need more tent cities and urban riots to convince us that poverty is everyone’s problem?
We Christians especially have no excuse for looking down on the poor. The Bible repeatedly commands us to make the poor our responsibility. Nor are we to be overly concerned about distinguishing between the deserving and undeserving poor. Just a month ago we celebrated Easter. None of us deserved the salvation that Christ died to bring us. How, then, can we demand that every poor person be perfect before we offer our help?
Good people may debate which antipoverty programs are most effective. What we can’t do is ignore the fact that too many Americans can’t afford food, shelter or medical care. Not if we want to remain a free county, not if we hope to see heaven.
Kathleen welcomes comments. Send them to Kathleen Choi, 1706 Waianuenue Ave., Hilo 96720, or email: kathchoi@hawaii.rr.com.
