Blog Action Day Poverty 2008

I'm joining the many who are blogging about poverty today, on October 15. This is a day of action, a day when bloggers reach out to highlight the many ways poverty can be brought into the light of day and seen and then - hopefully - eradicated.

In the difficult economic times we are in, many people find themselves struggling to downsize, even explain to their children that they cannot afford the same lifestyle. It is a challenge to all of us, when our own sense of security is at risk, to consider the needs of those worse off. But it is just at those times when it's most important to help others. It provides perspective.

Poverty is about hunger. Poverty is about having no shelter, no health care. Poverty kills people.

I remember a nun telling me a story about her missionary work. She spoke of children having no shoes and walking miles, having no food, no access to immunizations. She described this in terms that, I'm sure, were less stark for a child of seven to hear, but as a young child I was inquisitive, so I asked more questions.

"Sister," I asked, "how come we have so much and they have nothing?" I hesitated, because I was a bit afraid to say what I was thinking, but she nodded at me. "What is God thinking?"

It challenged my faith to hear about children suffering, to see pictures of their bellies extended, flies swirling around their heads which they were too sick to swat away. My own comfortable bed felt wrong that night, my pillow a luxury I didn't need, that could have held a baby, its pillowcase a covering or a diaper. I saw the food on my plate as excessive, food that could have fed more.

I woke up in the morning and said to my parents "We have too much."

I grew up. Somehow I, like many of us, just bought into the status quo that some people live in poverty and the rest of us don't. I saw it as a distant thing, something that affected people far away.

I went on to higher education. It was then that I saw poverty in Detroit. Due to a shortage of student housing, I moved into a room in a neighborhood where poverty left people homeless, standing outside on street corners eating food thrown away by others. I sat across a desk at the free legal aid clinic from people who had no address, no food and no hope. They were castaways, people who fell through the cracks, abandoned by their families and society. All I could give them was a donut, a cup of warm coffee and some very meager legal assistance. And my heart broke when their eyes teared up at these small things. Sometimes I asked "What is God thinking?" Poverty was not a distant problem, but one that I now realized I had to acknowledge and I continued to work with indigent people.

When I acquired my disability, my education about poverty continued. I saw the complex interaction between poverty and disability. Much has been written about how many of the poor people in developing countries have disabilities. Many Americans with disabilities are disproportionately poor, for many reasons. Some are homeless. Some go hungry. Many are invisible and out of sight. It is not always about money, as Kara points out, but sometimes about access.

My own spiritual journey has taught me that it is not God who creates poverty, but injustice that allows it to exist. I believe that poverty, although it is an enormous problem of global proportions, continues because we do not question its existence enough.

Today is a day when we can remember our own first encounter with poverty. It made us uncomfortable. Perhaps you felt, like I did, guilty for having so much. Or you wanted to help, but weren't sure how to.

It's up to you to decide whether to make today an action day or not. You can click here and help others out. Or do something locally. Many food banks are in trouble. Drop off cans of food or donate clothing. If you can't afford any of these things, consider saying a prayer for those suffering in poverty of all kinds - hunger, exposed to the elements, naked, sick and those without hope. Because we are all brothers and sisters, no matter how far away we exist on this planet. We can make the world a smaller place. We can make poverty a bit smaller today too.