Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Poverty Matters: Dare to Dignify

By Jeremy Lillig, CSJA, Managing Director, Bright Futures Fund

In my work with Community LINC and serving as the Managing Director for another nonprofit, I’m oftentimes reading essays and theories, both historical and current, on the issue of poverty.  Sometimes they cause me to stop and reflect.

Such was the case recently when reading one of my favorites on the topic, the late legend Dorothy Day.

While reading one of her essays she states, “We need to always be thinking about poverty, for if we are not among its victims its reality fades from us.  We must talk about poverty, because people insulated by their own comfort lose sight of it.“

This premise of this quote may seem obvious but when I stopped to reflect upon it I was reminded that we really don’t like to talk about it.  We do distance ourselves from it.  At times it’s almost as if we say “If I don’t know about it, it’s not really a problem.”
 
So what do we do?  How can we too be victims of poverty?  In the question so lies the problem.  We have lost our sense of community.  In a world in which we only see news that we want to on our smart phones and which community is defined by social media we have become more insulated than ever. Our opportunities to understand or even to listen to the struggles of our fellow person become difficult or nonexistent.  Perceptions are defined by anecdotal rants on Facebook and Twitter helping to define new stereotypes and generalizations to the plight of all.  How often have we in Kansas City heard someone complain about Jerry on the Plaza asking for a “down payment on a cheeseburger?”

Obviously I don’t have to answer to eradicate poverty from our society otherwise I would have done so long ago.  I do however have a few suggestions as to how we might help ourselves to help others.  The “little ways” can be extremely powerful and effective. 

1.  Treat people as people.  Don’t refer to people in poverty by slurs such as “bums,” “gangies,” or even refer to someone as “that homeless person.”  If you encounter someone find out their name,  or at least smile at them, make eye contact.

2.  Help to preserve dignity.  Answer someone who is panhandling.  If you can’t or prefer not to give them money say “I’m sorry I can’t help you today.”  Don’t ignore them as if they don’t exist. 

3.  Go and volunteer once a month.  Help out at Community LINC, St. James Place soup kitchen, etc.  Serve, talk with people, etc.  You’ll be amazed at how much you connect with people.  You’ll be thankful that you did.

These three suggestions are not revolutionary but they do require a revolution of our hearts in order to see them happen.  It takes effort but our lives will be all the more rich because of it.

In closing I leave you with the words from the inspiration for this post, Dorothy Day: 
“Suffering, sadness, repentance, love, we all have known these. They are easier to bear when one remembers their universality.  Life can be a lonely experience.  We don’t know what is going on in the depths of the heart and soul of another.  We scarcely know ourselves.”

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