Day: July 29, 2026

I suppose that life has forced me to develop a tough skin or I would have fallen apart long ago. Nonetheless I am a very feeling kind of person. I literally have the ability to empathize with people so much that from time to time I hit an emotional wall. When that happens I have to step back from the world for a time to reenergize my determination. It is a tactic that I developed as a child and it still works for me as my clock ticks closer and closer to my eighties. 

I have a tendency to take on the worries of the people that I love and those of the world whom I have never met. Try as I may I can never turn my back and pretend that all is well when it is not. I have a caretaker personality that includes concern for the sick and hungry and abused people of the world. 

There are many negative descriptions of people like me. I’ve heard them all and rejected them because I truly believe that each of us is called up to care for the needs of others. Simply going to church on Sundays and praying for God’s grace and help is not enough. I believe that every aspect of our lives should reflect the belief and expectation that we will genuinely strive to provide solace for all people well beyond the sphere of our families and friendships. 

When I witness the level of greed that is so often admired and simulated in our modern society I cringe. There is nothing wrong with wealth unless it becomes the be all and end all of a person’s motivation. When riches are hoarded while obvious suffering is all around us I grieve and wonder why we humans are so often oblivious to the suffering that many among us endure. 

I know that it is wise to give only what one is able to afford but in some cases I witness people building mansions of material acquisitions while complaining about people on welfare whom they depict as lazy. My experience as a teacher of economically disadvantaged children taught me that things are not always as they appear to be. I have encountered parents who worked two jobs during the week supplemented by more work on the weekends to barely scrape together enough to afford housing and food. Such individuals are caught is a vicious circle of exhaustion and poverty that few of us can even imagine. 

I have taught students who seemed to be very bright but made horrific grades because they neglected homework and studying. They fell asleep in class and seemed not to care that they were missing the opportunity to elevate themselves. Taking the time to talk with them about what was motivating their bad attitudes often revealed disturbing situations that kept them unbalanced and weary. 

There was the girl who went home from school to supervise her younger siblings while her mother worked a second job. She had to see to their lessons, prepare their dinner, bathe them and get them to bed before she was able to take care of her own studies. There was the young man who traveled forty miles from the school campus each afternoon to clean office buildings until after midnight each evening. There was the student whose bed was the family couch where she dreamed of Santa Claus bringing her a bed for Christmas. I could fill books with tales of families working more hours each week than most of us would ever be able to endure while still barely keeping up with rising costs. 

As a society we have heard our so called leaders fuming about “shit hole countries” and “welfare mamas” without taking the time to determine what was really going on in such people’s lives. They cater to themselves and other wealthy souls complaining constantly that they are expected to help the poor and suffering. It is as though they see themselves as the victims as they proclaim their spirituality while condemning those who behave in ways that they do not approve. 

Either these kind of people are incredibly uninformed or clueless or stingy. Whatever the case, they don’t seem to realize how life’s events can often create situations so dire that people cannot raise themselves up no matter how hard they try. In such instances it is up to those of us who have to give proportionately. We are called upon to remember the sermon on the mount that admonishes us to be aware of those who are suffering and to care for them.

Our present society in the United States is awash with demonizing groups and countries with generalizations that do not take into account the worth of every human who walks on this earth. We are building a treasure for war by taking from the poorest and weariest among us and then going to church on Sundays and proclaiming our love for God. It boggles my mind even as I know that it is not up to me to judge. Nonetheless I can follow the example of Jesus and upend the tables of the money changers and that is what I so want to do. 

The source of my most current frustration grows from my sorrow that we are hurting people more than we are helping. Thus I recently reached a point of deep sorrow that overtook me until I gave myself a brief moment to look away just long enough to toughen up again and reenter the fray. 

I don’t know how long we will be a nation that has lost its way but I do know that I will remain in the effort to confront the movement that is pushing us into wars and ugliness toward the most vulnerable among us. I can be as dedicated to a just cause as the pretenders who dehumanize others in selfish pursuits. Change will come. It always does.