What’s
the World Coming To?
Christine Phillips
February
4, 2012
When I drove into the
Walmart parking lot today, I saw a young woman, probably in her thirties,
standing on the corner holding a cardboard hand-lettered sign that read, SINGLE MOM, LOST
JOB, NEED HELP. I saw another woman walk up to her and
hand her some money. I wished I could do
the same. As I was leaving Walmart after shopping, I saw a middle-aged man on
the same corner holding a sign that read, VETERAN, FAMILY HOMELESS, NEED HELP. I
shook my head, wondering, “What is the world coming to?”
When single mothers, veterans, and others end up with no money and no homes, and are reduced to standing on the street corner looking for handouts, something is very wrong with our world. Our faltering economy has caused businesses to try to stay afloat by firing good employees who count on their jobs to pay the bills, keep a roof over their heads, and put food in their children’s mouths. Veterans are not treated with the respect they deserve for helping to make sure we have a free country. No one should have to stand on a corner and beg for handouts, especially in the middle of winter. I can’t think of anything that would make a person feel more humiliated and helpless than that.
I hope the day never comes when I have to do the same as the people I saw on the corner today. I live with my 74-year-old mother and two young adult children. I have various health issues including obstructive sleep apnea, rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, depression, and anxiety. Plus, I have this stupid shoulder sprain to contend with. When rheumatoid arthritis raised its ugly head for the first time in 2009, I was working at McDonald’s. The pain was so bad I had to quit my job. I couldn’t be on my feet for an eight-hour shift anymore. I applied for SSI and disability benefits and was denied. So I went on food stamps while I looked for work in spite of my pain.
My mother helps care for a stroke victim to earn some money, and she’s been struggling to pay our bills. She says she hasn’t made a mortgage payment in a year. We live every day in fear that we will lose the house. We heat the house with oil, which is very expensive. We have a 250-gallon tank. We ran really low on oil last week and had to turn off the furnace until Mom could spare $350 to buy 100 gallons of oil. Of course, that meant more financial worries while we bundled up to keep warm indoors. My daughter works part-time and goes to college part-time. My son graduated from high school last year and is job-hunting. I’m job-hunting now, too, despite my medical conditions. It's been worrisome being unemployed and living on food stamps for so long. I'm ready for a change for the better, but I'm worried because jobs are scarce and unemployment continues to rise. I don’t have a degree and my work experience is mostly in food service and cashiering. I’ve been applying for clerical and receptionist jobs, since I’ve done that kind of work before. I’m trying to get out of the fast food rut. But at this point, being as desperate as I am, I’ll go work at McDonald’s and be grateful for it.
Today I went to Walmart to get groceries. I went by myself in spite of the pain in my sprained left shoulder. I kept my arm in a sling, not because I wanted to garner sympathy from the other shoppers, but because I wanted to create a bubble of space around me. When people saw me struggling to push the cart with one arm in a sling, they automatically gave me ample room to pass and made their children get out of my way. It’s easy to respond with compassion to the more obvious signs that someone is not as able-bodied as he or she looks. But when someone’s disability or disease or trouble is hidden or not so obvious, we tend to forget to show compassion.
Not everyone has a good job, plenty of food, plenty of money to pay the bills, and a warm house. If we were to discover how many people go hungry, or have their homes or vehicles repossessed, or encountered some other trouble, I think we’d be amazed. But would we be moved to reach out and help? Or would we just shake our heads, wish them luck, and walk away?
I desperately want to see people move in compassion toward one another. Jesus commanded that we love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus was compassionate toward the lepers, the prostitutes, the tax collectors, and everyone else that people tended to avoid in His day. He commanded that we do the same. But how many of us actually do it? Are we too wrapped up in our own daily struggles, and too selfish, to recognize when someone else needs help?
If I were a millionaire, I would never overlook those in need. I would help them in any way I could. No one should have to be in a situation where they can’t take care of themselves or their families, and they have to beg on a street corner. Yet I see this happening nearly every time I go out. Again I ask, what is this world coming to? And what are we going to do about it?
I have a record album recorded by Debby Boone in 1983 titled Surrender. There’s a song on it called “Find a Hurt and Heal It,” written by D. Baroni and N. Borop. The chorus goes something like this:
Find a hurt and heal it, show your love, let them feel it. Be a vessel of compassion to your neighbor day by day. Find a hurt and heal it, and don’t be surprised to see that while you’re helping your brother, your own hurt has gone away.
I think we all should follow this advice.
When single mothers, veterans, and others end up with no money and no homes, and are reduced to standing on the street corner looking for handouts, something is very wrong with our world. Our faltering economy has caused businesses to try to stay afloat by firing good employees who count on their jobs to pay the bills, keep a roof over their heads, and put food in their children’s mouths. Veterans are not treated with the respect they deserve for helping to make sure we have a free country. No one should have to stand on a corner and beg for handouts, especially in the middle of winter. I can’t think of anything that would make a person feel more humiliated and helpless than that.
I hope the day never comes when I have to do the same as the people I saw on the corner today. I live with my 74-year-old mother and two young adult children. I have various health issues including obstructive sleep apnea, rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, depression, and anxiety. Plus, I have this stupid shoulder sprain to contend with. When rheumatoid arthritis raised its ugly head for the first time in 2009, I was working at McDonald’s. The pain was so bad I had to quit my job. I couldn’t be on my feet for an eight-hour shift anymore. I applied for SSI and disability benefits and was denied. So I went on food stamps while I looked for work in spite of my pain.
My mother helps care for a stroke victim to earn some money, and she’s been struggling to pay our bills. She says she hasn’t made a mortgage payment in a year. We live every day in fear that we will lose the house. We heat the house with oil, which is very expensive. We have a 250-gallon tank. We ran really low on oil last week and had to turn off the furnace until Mom could spare $350 to buy 100 gallons of oil. Of course, that meant more financial worries while we bundled up to keep warm indoors. My daughter works part-time and goes to college part-time. My son graduated from high school last year and is job-hunting. I’m job-hunting now, too, despite my medical conditions. It's been worrisome being unemployed and living on food stamps for so long. I'm ready for a change for the better, but I'm worried because jobs are scarce and unemployment continues to rise. I don’t have a degree and my work experience is mostly in food service and cashiering. I’ve been applying for clerical and receptionist jobs, since I’ve done that kind of work before. I’m trying to get out of the fast food rut. But at this point, being as desperate as I am, I’ll go work at McDonald’s and be grateful for it.
Today I went to Walmart to get groceries. I went by myself in spite of the pain in my sprained left shoulder. I kept my arm in a sling, not because I wanted to garner sympathy from the other shoppers, but because I wanted to create a bubble of space around me. When people saw me struggling to push the cart with one arm in a sling, they automatically gave me ample room to pass and made their children get out of my way. It’s easy to respond with compassion to the more obvious signs that someone is not as able-bodied as he or she looks. But when someone’s disability or disease or trouble is hidden or not so obvious, we tend to forget to show compassion.
Not everyone has a good job, plenty of food, plenty of money to pay the bills, and a warm house. If we were to discover how many people go hungry, or have their homes or vehicles repossessed, or encountered some other trouble, I think we’d be amazed. But would we be moved to reach out and help? Or would we just shake our heads, wish them luck, and walk away?
I desperately want to see people move in compassion toward one another. Jesus commanded that we love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus was compassionate toward the lepers, the prostitutes, the tax collectors, and everyone else that people tended to avoid in His day. He commanded that we do the same. But how many of us actually do it? Are we too wrapped up in our own daily struggles, and too selfish, to recognize when someone else needs help?
If I were a millionaire, I would never overlook those in need. I would help them in any way I could. No one should have to be in a situation where they can’t take care of themselves or their families, and they have to beg on a street corner. Yet I see this happening nearly every time I go out. Again I ask, what is this world coming to? And what are we going to do about it?
I have a record album recorded by Debby Boone in 1983 titled Surrender. There’s a song on it called “Find a Hurt and Heal It,” written by D. Baroni and N. Borop. The chorus goes something like this:
Find a hurt and heal it, show your love, let them feel it. Be a vessel of compassion to your neighbor day by day. Find a hurt and heal it, and don’t be surprised to see that while you’re helping your brother, your own hurt has gone away.
I think we all should follow this advice.
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