Should we feed the poor?

Posted: February 8, 2011

He was so hungry he couldn’t stop eating the spicy hot chips. Tears ran down his cheeks because his lips and mouth were burning. But he didn’t stop eating until every chip was gone. Should we feed the poor?

Where did this happen, you ask? In the Sudan, Bangladesh, or Haiti? No! It happened right here in America. Should we feed the poor in the US?

Poverty is a complex issue – misunderstood by most of the middle class and wealthy. Those who live below the poverty level have unwritten rules, a different vocabulary, and values you and I often don’t understand. What do you think?  Should we feed those in poverty?

As I pondered these questions and even took steps to help some people out of the poverty cycle with employment opportunities, it didn’t take long for me to discover that feeding the poor is much easier than helping them find ways to provide food for themselves. The roots of poverty go deep, apathy and dependence is too easy, and for many, the light of hope has gone out.

But there is hope and it can be found in the eyes of some of poverty’s children. Any chance to break the poverty cycle must begin with the children. Should we feed them? Of course!! But along with food and clothes, we must teach the precious children born in poverty’s grip the way out of the hopelessness and despair that fills their homes.

How?  Good question!! I’ll answer it next time.