Rude comments people make about those on public assistance

[cheezey]

And it is impossible to really walk in another’s footsteps - two people may appear to be at the same place - yet have come a very different path - so much is not obvious, so much pain is hidden in people.

This is not to say that as responsible citizens we should not strive to reduce abuse of a safety net, and to empower people - yet for my tax dollar I would rather someone who didn’t ‘really need’ help received it rather than that someone who needed help - did not.

I agree.

I know the Holy Father, the same as Christ, would be against deceit, to obtain aid not needed; however, nowhere do they speak to overcome those obstacles first, then fulfill our obligation to those in need.

Christ did not qualify giving, except to say give more than one asks of us.

I tried so diligently to hide what was happening to me. To keep at a minimum those who should know. As my situation became noticeably worse, that became impossible.
I noticed that when I first asked for PA, and I was wearing ratty but clean jeans and baseball cap to that office, I’d be approached asking if I wanted a free assurance phone.
When I found my own roof, I also found my better clothes from when I was able to work. I still had no money because I wasn’t pregnant, a mother, or over 60. When I then went to the same office, doors were being opened for me because others thought I worked there.
Appearances aren’t much at all.
Benefit of doubt must be given, albeit carefully.

 

[rayne89]

That being said I do find the comments made about people on public assistance quite sad. I have coworkers who receive public assistance (food stamps). Not everyone who receives public assistance are unemployed. These woman don’t make enough to feed them and their children but they do work. My husband went through a period of long unemployment, we live in MI where unemployment became one of the highest in the nation do to the recession. A friend on facebook who was also unemployed made a comment about negative remarks she had received for receiving unemployment benefits and that she should just “get a job”.

I chimed in to support explaining our situation and how hard my husband had been looking for work. People say take any job, but places won’t hire people who they know you will quit when better work comes along because they know you are “over qualified”. Trust me, he tried. An old classmate on facebook who is a very successful attorney made the remark that my husband should “reinvent himself”, go back to school etc. A comment made obviously from someone who has no idea the reality of trying to figure out what bills we could pay, what bills we had to leave unpaid until the next check (I was working but do not make enough to support us). How does one go back to school when the bank account is empty? Where does the money magically come from? Thankfully he has been back to work for a year now. But we have a daughter getting ready to go to college this fall and medical bills from my medical problems. There’s no money for “reinvention”

 

[3DOCTORS]

No one likes to be played for a sucker so I do understand that. I don’t appreciate it much when I’m getting gasoline at the Quik Trip and a guy approaches me for “spare change” for “food” and he’s just come out of the bar next to the QT.

And with public assistance the stakes are much higher. As a recipient of same, those who deliberately scam the system are making it way more difficult for me. And yet in a weird way I feel sorry for them if they’re just doing it on a petty scale - I wonder if they ever had a decent role model in their entire lives; my guess would be probably not. :nope: Those who conduct big scams on a large scale - or even the guy with a small grocery store who “buys” food stamps for so much on the dollar - that’s more evil than ignorance, IMO. But only God knows the state of those souls too.

Some food for thought for all of us, wherever we stand on the whole business - the “Anyway” poem:

1. The version found written on the wall in Mother Teresa’s home for children in Calcutta:
   

          People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.
   
        If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.
   
        If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.
   
       If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.
   
        What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.
   
        If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.
   
        The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.
   
     Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.
   
     In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

-this version is credited to Mother Teresa

---

1. The Original Version:

The Paradoxical Commandments

by Dr. Kent M. Keith

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

© 1968, 2001 Kent M. Keith

 

[garn9173]

It’s people who abuse the system that gives everyone on public assistance a bad name. Case in point, a Facebook friend wrote this earlier this month.

Just got back from Walmart, I get the kids for a week and had to do a little grocery shopping, the lady in front of me spent about $250 -$300 dollars on food,then she asked the cashier to put certain items in different bags, I heard her tell her children that some of it was for a friend, using the same EBT card to pay, her next purchase was paid in cash, 2 18 packs of beer, 2 bottles of Jack Danie…ls, and two cartons of cigarettes… I just shake my head ,I’m looking at the food for the week for the kids and i ,about $50, there is something seriously wrong with the system that is in place now, oh did I mention that she got into a brand new 2013 Toyota, some people, I guess, know how to work the system… I know some people need the help, I don’t have a problem with people needing help, but things like this happen it really pisses me off… I was hurt on the job back in October, A friend of mine told me to go down and see if I could get some help, once there I was politely told I can’t get any help, like I said, I guess some people know how to work the system…

 

[Prodigal_Son1]

It’s people who abuse the system that gives everyone on public assistance a bad name. Case in point, a Facebook friend wrote this earlier this month.

Good thing Catholics are called to teachings from the Church, and not Facebook. One is always true and the other is very hit and miss. But, let’s assume the story is real, we cannot make application to all on assistance based on a single incident. Next, we ask ourselves if we view the situation as normal, or something abnormal. Abnormal behavior is in itself a ‘weakness,’ or iniquity.

The Pope makes no qualifications on giving, except to include public authorities, and nations. Christ made the qualification to give more than is ask of us.

 

[Deus_tecum]

My best friend and her husband bought a a foreclosed house to renovate and sell, then the housing market crashed. They rented it and a lot of trouble getting regular rent from tenants and had to go through the long process of eviction regularly even with background checks they had done before hand. Then they went with section 8 housing because it guaranteed regular rent payments since they came directly from the government. You are absolutely right to say these tenants are more destructive. They have had to do huge repairs after tenants moved out and one had horrible infestation of bed bugs. This tenant chose to move because of the bed bugs and took her bed, sofa etc before my friend had the extermination done which means she took bed bugs with her and will now infest the next place.

One can successfully own and manage Section 8 properties, but they have to be very careful so as to not be accused of discrimination. The landlords who are successful at it advise to purchase and rent only houses, and never apartments. They also say to stick to 2 bedroom homes, and to try to get the elderly or disabled rather than the young single mother. In my area I have heard it is considered “discrimination” to advertise a rental as being in a “quiet neighborhood”. The argument goes that kids are noisy by nature, and to expect quiet is to discriminate against children.

I knew a couple of so called parents that were on Section 8 and moved from house to house always finding something wrong with it. They would find something to complain about in regard to the house, the landlord, or the neighborhood, but was more likely related to them being bad neighbors due to their ridiculous pitbull dogs. They even moved one time because a house was “haunted”. They have since lost custody of their kids and their son said they want nothing to do with him. I guess I am just venting in this last paragraph.

 

[andrewstx]

I’ve spent some time visiting in public housing projects and was surprised at first to see so many late model SUVs, and classic cars sitting on wheel rims and tires that cost $1000 per wheel, and then the apartments mostly all having really big flat screen TVs. How could anyone see all that and think the people are “poor”? Of course if you bring this up to the American liberal, you are curtly told the TVs must have been a gift, and the SUVs are just visitors. Oh and what about expensive satellite and cable TV subscriptions? “Well” they say, “TV is educational, and it would be racist to deprive them of education.” This is the response I get regardless of the fact that welfare abuses cross all racial boundaries.

I am so disturbed by the radical right people that seem to think most who get public assistance are capable of work and just cheat the system. They come across as selfish. greedy and caring for no-one but themselves. I don’t see how such people can call themselves Catholic Christians with a straight face.

I had a bad stroke 9 years ago. I can not drive, walk without help, and I cannot think clearly, and I sure can’t hold a job. Think I am Lazy?

I live in a trailer house in the middle of nowhere because that is all I can afford on SSI. I have a small, cheap Vizio TV I saved up for with cheap satellite service. I am typing on a computer that some one else paid for because I could not afford one on my own. I can not drive but I ride in a CHEAP Mitsubishi that gets good mileage.

And you know there are a few who do cheat. I used to work at a 7-11 across the street from drug dealers. They would come in with food stamps to pay for food and drug money for case after case of beer and carton after carton of stinkyrettes.

But these are the small minority and not the majority. The “welfare Caddilac” is just a myth.

 

[Prodigal_Son1]

I am so disturbed by the radical right people that seem to think most who get public assistance are capable of work and just cheat the system. They come across as selfish. greedy and caring for no-one but themselves. I don’t see how such people can call themselves Catholic Christians with a straight face.

I had a bad stroke 9 years ago. I can not drive, walk without help, and I cannot think clearly, and I sure can’t hold a job. Think I am Lazy?

I live in a trailer house in the middle of nowhere because that is all I can afford on SSI. I have a small, cheap Vizio TV I saved up for with cheap satellite service. I am typing on a computer that some one else paid for because I could not afford one on my own. I can not drive but I ride in a CHEAP Mitsubishi that gets good mileage.

And you know there are a few who do cheat. I used to work at a 7-11 across the street from drug dealers. They would come in with food stamps to pay for food and drug money for case after case of beer and carton after carton of stinkyrettes.

But these are the small minority and not the majority. The “welfare Caddilac” is just a myth.

God bless you brother.

 

[andrewstx]

God bless you brother.

Thank you so much Prodigal Son. It is just so difficult so much of the time. And whenI read some of the stuff here it just gets me bent out of shape and I respond not so appropriately .

 

[markomalley]

3doctors,

As a member of the knuckle-dragging radical right, allow me to echo fhe following wholeheartedly. While none of us like to see people who scam the system, the fault is first and foremost with the system that enables and encourages the abuses that end up being the specific target from time to time.

3Doctors,
Hi

You know, I was cery vocal in my opposition to “illegal immigration” some time back, but a discussion I had caused me to realize that Inwas angry not at the illegal immigrants themselves, but at the system our government has set up.

It is the same way with the safety net. OK, I am not happy with those who abuse the system, but as another poster said, there but for the grace of God…

But the system!!!

First if all, of the tax dollars we pay in which are allocated to the safety net, over 70% goes to what in a charity would be called adminstration costs. Poor people actually only get less than 30%!!! :slow burn:

Second, the system is set up in a way that makes it difficult to get off. That is unconscionable.

(snip)

Related to the enabling is of course the disincentivizing of fatherhood, which ought to be a crime instead of government policy.

All that being said, I think that if a lot of people were to think of it, their anger would be more appropriately directed to the government system rather than to those who need the help. It is such a shame, because in between the 70% admin costs and the small percentage of those who are abusing the system, and those who can’t get off because they’d fall into the gap, if all those things were taken care of, then we’d be able to help a lot of people who really need help!!! Just because someone doesn’t have children doesn’t mean they don’t need help!

I make an effort to identify that my frustration is directed toward the enabling system. If that doesn’t get through, I do apologize for my lack of proper written communication skills.

Back in 1891, Leo XIII stated:

The great mistake made in regard to the matter now under consideration is to take up with the notion that class is naturally hostile to class, and that the wealthy and the working men are intended by nature to live in mutual conflict. So irrational and so false is this view that the direct contrary is the truth. Just as the symmetry of the human frame is the result of the suitable arrangement of the different parts of the body, so in a State is it ordained by nature that these two classes should dwell in harmony and agreement, so as to maintain the balance of the body politic.

One of the chief complaints that I have is that the system, as it is designed, helps create and perpetuate this notion. Those who are well-to-do are perceived as “the other” by the people who are struggling in life and those who are struggling and who need some assistance for one reason or another are perceived as “the other” by those who are well-to-do.

Those who are well-to-do have attempted to set up a program of government assistance so they can believe that this amorphous mass that they call “the poor” are taken care of without actually having to get their hands dirty. In other words, they use government money to salve their consciences. These government programs allow them to fool themselves into thinking that they are in full [solidarity](http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/p...ace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html#a. Meaning and value) with the “poor”, not recognizing that solidarity without [participation](http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/p...c_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html#Meaning and value) is no solidarity at all. As is stated in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:
Solidarity is also an authentic moral virtue, not a “feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary,* it is a firm and persevering determination* to commit oneself to the common good. That is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all”

Or, to put it more plainly, quoting Benedict XVI:

The principle of subsidiarity must remain closely linked to the principle of solidarity and vice versa, since the former without the latter gives way to social privatism, while the latter without the former gives way to paternalist social assistance that is demeaning to those in need.

The point being that this system reduces the perception of the inherent dignity that exists in each of us as human beings. I personally mostly regard those who are struggling and who need to have assistance as ‘victims’ of that system. Frankly, where my chief anger is directed is toward the ‘limousine liberals’ who created and perpetuate that system as a mechanism to salve their guilty consciences while being able to keep their soft, manicured hands clean.

And if that hasn’t come through in my posts…again, I apologize for my lack of communication skills.

 

[Robert_Sock]

I am so disturbed by the radical right people that seem to think most who get public assistance are capable of work and just cheat the system. They come across as selfish. greedy and caring for no-one but themselves. I don’t see how such people can call themselves Catholic Christians with a straight face.

I had a bad stroke 9 years ago. I can not drive, walk without help, and I cannot think clearly, and I sure can’t hold a job. Think I am Lazy?

I live in a trailer house in the middle of nowhere because that is all I can afford on SSI. I have a small, cheap Vizio TV I saved up for with cheap satellite service. I am typing on a computer that some one else paid for because I could not afford one on my own. I can not drive but I ride in a CHEAP Mitsubishi that gets good mileage.

And you know there are a few who do cheat. I used to work at a 7-11 across the street from drug dealers. They would come in with food stamps to pay for food and drug money for case after case of beer and carton after carton of stinkyrettes.

But these are the small minority and not the majority. The “welfare Caddilac” is just a myth.

People, including Catholics, can be so mean when it comes to public assistance for the disabled.

 

[jenwha]

I have worked since I was 16 years old.

For the people that truly need assistance, I am glad that those people get the help and I would never want them to do without.

For the adults that simply do not want to work, or abuse the system, I get real negative about it…real fast. I get up and go to work day after day. Sometimes I don’t feel that great, sometimes it’s 10 below outside, doesn’t matter. I go day after day and usually put in a ten hour day. I do it because it is my responsibility to take care of myself financially and be a contributing member of society.

And I’m not interested in my hard earned money going to perfectly capable adults who choose to sit on their butts and do nothing. People used to have character enough to be ashamed of having to go on the dole. In today’s times a lot of that attitude has shifted.

Just my two cents.

 

[3DOCTORS]

I have worked since I was 16 years old.

For the people that truly need assistance, I am glad that those people get the help and I would never want them to do without.

For the adults that simply do not want to work, or abuse the system, I get real negative about it…real fast. I get up and go to work day after day. Sometimes I don’t feel that great, sometimes it’s 10 below outside, doesn’t matter. I go day after day and usually put in a ten hour day. I do it because it is my responsibility to take care of myself financially and be a contributing member of society.

And I’m not interested in my hard earned money going to perfectly capable adults who choose to sit on their butts and do nothing. People used to have character enough to be ashamed of having to go on the dole. In today’s times a lot of that attitude has shifted.

Just my two cents.

As long as you are capable of reading their souls and their intentions and their history to be sure of their motives from the outside looking in, I have no quarrel with your reasoning.

I don’t know if it’s always “character” to be ashamed of being on the dole - I have known of cases where people would stubbornly hold out against any kind of help for themselves or their children, yet deprive themselves until a health crisis occurred, or deprive their children. So I believe a reasonable, discerning balance is needed. :twocents:

 

[Deus_tecum]

I am so disturbed by the radical right people that seem to think most who get public assistance are capable of work and just cheat the system. They come across as selfish. greedy and caring for no-one but themselves. I don’t see how such people can call themselves Catholic Christians with a straight face.

I am not sure if you are labeling me as “radical right” so I’ll let that go for now. I do not think that I used the word “most” in regard to those who exploit the welfare system but even if I somehow implied a majority, I think I am a much better judge of the prevalence of the amount of welfare abuse in housing projects in large cities than someone who lives out in the boonies in a trailer. There are many deserving people receiving assistance, but those who abuse the system give the entire system a bad name. Do you get that? It’s not you or people like you that the complaint is about. It’s the corrupt system, and the people who exploit it. Is it selfish, greedy, and non caring to want to excise the corruption in the system? Don’t you understand that there will be more available to the truly needy when the system is cleaned up?

 

[St_Francis]

I read a lot of old books, and a lot of times there will be descriptions of people helping the poor. Oh, my, one scene which always made me cry was in Little Women (or the sequel) when Beth went to give food to the poor family nearby and ended up holding the baby as the baby died… Talk about participation!

So we talk about helping the poor but often only give money. We should all do more to be personally involved, remembering that poverty is not necessarily material–there are elderly or ill people who have money but who are very lonely and in need of human contact.

It’s hard–for me I tend to feel overwhelmed at the needs and throw my hands up, but we each need to do something.

One sad thing I heard about years ago was that a soup kitchen thought of asking some of the homeless to help out. Not requiring it or anything. This was for reasons I forget forbidden. But what a shame!!! To allow those who had so little to at least help out those who were in worse circumstances than themselves! It is a shame when we make “help” all about money, because then those with no money can’t participate. If instead we made help personal, then one neighbor could share food with another neighbor, who in turn could help another neighbor with a health problem with her housework, who could visit an elderly person a couple of times a week, who could lend some of her yard to the orignal gardener to grow more vegetables to share…

And this is one thing that most upsets me about government aid–that it makes people ignore problems because they think the govenrment will take care of it, and because of the inefficiency (70% " admin costs"!!!), people have to work more to pay the taxes and end up with no time to help those in need personally.

3doctors,

As a member of the knuckle-dragging radical right, allow me to echo fhe following wholeheartedly. While none of us like to see people who scam the system, the fault is first and foremost with the system that enables and encourages the abuses that end up being the specific target from time to time.

I make an effort to identify that my frustration is directed toward the enabling system. If that doesn’t get through, I do apologize for my lack of proper written communication skills.

Back in 1891, Leo XIII stated:

The great mistake made in regard to the matter now under consideration is to take up with the notion that class is naturally hostile to class, and that the wealthy and the working men are intended by nature to live in mutual conflict. So irrational and so false is this view that the direct contrary is the truth. Just as the symmetry of the human frame is the result of the suitable arrangement of the different parts of the body, so in a State is it ordained by nature that these two classes should dwell in harmony and agreement, so as to maintain the balance of the body politic.

One of the chief complaints that I have is that the system, as it is designed, helps create and perpetuate this notion. Those who are well-to-do are perceived as “the other” by the people who are struggling in life and those who are struggling and who need some assistance for one reason or another are perceived as “the other” by those who are well-to-do.l

Those who are well-to-do have attempted to set up a program of government assistance so they can believe that this amorphous mass that they call “the poor” are taken care of without actually having to get their hands dirty. In other words, they use government money to salve their consciences. These government programs allow them to fool themselves into thinking that they are in full [solidarity](http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/p...ace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html#a. Meaning and value) with the “poor”, not recognizing that solidarity without [participation](http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/p...c_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html#Meaning and value) is no solidarity at all. As is stated in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:
Solidarity is also an authentic moral virtue, not a “feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary,* it is a firm and persevering determination* to commit oneself to the common good. That is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all”

Or, to put it more plainly, quoting Benedict XVI:

The principle of subsidiarity must remain closely linked to the principle of solidarity and vice versa, since the former without the latter gives way to social privatism, while the latter without the former gives way to paternalist social assistance that is demeaning to those in need.

The point being that this system reduces the perception of the inherent dignity that exists in each of us as human beings. I personally mostly regard those who are struggling and who need to have assistance as ‘victims’ of that system. Frankly, where my chief anger is directed is toward the ‘limousine liberals’ who created and perpetuate that system as a mechanism to salve their guilty consciences while being able to keep their soft, manicured hands clean.

And if that hasn’t come through in my posts…again, I apologize for my lack of communication skills.

 

[St_Francis]

I don’t mean to impoy that government aid should be abolished… just set up so it doesn’t twist our pereceptions…

 

[Prodigal_Son1]

As long as you are capable of reading their souls and their intentions and their history to be sure of their motives from the outside looking in, I have no quarrel with your reasoning.

I don’t know if it’s always “character” to be ashamed of being on the dole - I have known of cases where people would stubbornly hold out against any kind of help for themselves or their children, yet deprive themselves until a health crisis occurred, or deprive their children. So I believe a reasonable, discerning balance is needed. :twocents:

Christ never taught to avoid giving to those ‘on the dole.’ He taught if they ask for your cloak, give them your coat as well. It seems, to me, that we must endure all to assure we are answering His call to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give shelter to the stranger, heal the sick, and visit the imprisoned. If there are some who are truly taking advantage, it’s His to deal with, not ours.

 

[DarkLight]

I have worked since I was 16 years old.

For the people that truly need assistance, I am glad that those people get the help and I would never want them to do without.

For the adults that simply do not want to work, or abuse the system, I get real negative about it…real fast. I get up and go to work day after day. Sometimes I don’t feel that great, sometimes it’s 10 below outside, doesn’t matter. I go day after day and usually put in a ten hour day. I do it because it is my responsibility to take care of myself financially and be a contributing member of society.

And I’m not interested in my hard earned money going to perfectly capable adults who choose to sit on their butts and do nothing. People used to have character enough to be ashamed of having to go on the dole. In today’s times a lot of that attitude has shifted.

Just my two cents.

I think this is the thing. One, people should never have to be ashamed of taking needed assistance. Two, it’s often quite hard for people outside to see when someone is or isn’t “perfectly capable.” I know as a young adult with mental illness that was typically hidden on the days I could manage to go out, I appeared just like any other young woman. People didn’t see me shaking with flashbacks, or the hidden cuts that might be holding me back from crying that day. They saw a well-dressed young woman with makeup on going out.

 

[Prodigal_Son1]

I read a lot of old books, and a lot of times there will be descriptions of people helping the poor. Oh, my, one scene which always made me cry was in Little Women (or the sequel) when Beth went to give food to the poor family nearby and ended up holding the baby as the baby died… Talk about participation!

So we talk about helping the poor but often only give money. We should all do more to be personally involved, remembering that poverty is not necessarily material–there are elderly or ill people who have money but who are very lonely and in need of human contact.

It’s hard–for me I tend to feel overwhelmed at the needs and throw my hands up, but we each need to do something.

One sad thing I heard about years ago was that a soup kitchen thought of asking some of the homeless to help out. Not requiring it or anything. This was for reasons I forget forbidden. But what a shame!!! To allow those who had so little to at least help out those who were in worse circumstances than themselves! It is a shame when we make “help” all about money, because then those with no money can’t participate. If instead we made help personal, then one neighbor could share food with another neighbor, who in turn could help another neighbor with a health problem with her housework, who could visit an elderly person a couple of times a week, who could lend some of her yard to the orignal gardener to grow more vegetables to share…

And this is one thing that most upsets me about government aid–that it makes people ignore problems because they think the govenrment will take care of it, and because of the inefficiency (70% " admin costs"!!!), people have to work more to pay the taxes and end up with no time to help those in need personally.

Where did Christ say give, but don’t use money? I remember Him saying, ‘sell all you have and give to the poor.’ Wasn’t that using money?

We are called to give in all ways possible. Christ did not teach, ‘avoid giving in ways that hurt you, or in ways some will misuse, or abuse.’

 

[St_Francis]

Where did Christ say give, but don’t use money? I remember Him saying, ‘sell all you have and give to the poor.’ Wasn’t that using money?

We are called to give in all ways possible. Christ did not teach, ‘avoid giving in ways that hurt you, or in ways some will misuse, or abuse.’

I thought there was something wrong with my post I do not mean to imply that we should never use money, or even that the government should not be involved, but that because we emphasize the money part, we forget about the rest.

So, we give money to the government in the form of taxes; we give money to the church and to charites, but *in addition, *we should *do *things for and with the poor. And those who are too poor can also be involved in helping their neighbors.

If I write a check for $50 to St Jude’s, that will help people. But if i take some food over to a poor family, be it groceries or something I cooked, there is a personal touch that means they can be grateful to a person rather than just nebulously feeling ??? And this might also encourage them to do a little something for someone.

To be honest, I live in an area filled with poor people of all different kinds. Some are sick, some elderly, some decided to ditch the “straight” life and have drug dealers’ babies and live on welfare, and some are the children of these people who know only that type of life. There are boys who are not being taught by their fathers how to fish or fix a car or repair a house or even how to get up no matter how they feel to go to work.

Once there was a bad storm which knocked out the electricity and caused a lot of flooding. There was a lot of damage. The poor young men of the town just wandered around while others were trying to help those who needed help. I am not faulting these young men–they don’t know any better. They may have even wanted to help but not known how to think about it or ask someone if they needed help. In the meantime, my husband took our sons out and they helped others, so my sons learned about these things.

So the only solution I can see is for people to start going around offering help to people and encouraging everyone to help in whatever way we can, whether through money or through prayer (very important which anyone can do!!), or giving, or companionship, or teaching, or helping in other ways.