Tag Archives: poverty

salvation when all seems lost

Salvation When All Seems Lost

Healing, Holidays, , ,

Frequently salvation comes precisely when it appears as though all is lost.
Leo Tolstoy

I am staring at the face of fear once more. I fell and injured my ankle, and I am having a hard time healing. The pain interferes with my job, but I need to work. It is tempting to fall into the fear that all my hard work since moving to Minnesota seems lost.

The fear is a growling bear, hungry, wanting power over his cave. The fear is a prowling tiger, cunning, plotting evil against those she sees as weak. I feel the fear, but I know that the bear’s cave and the tiger’s lair will be overcome. Light always vanquishes darkness, good always overcomes evil. It is written in all our fairy tales, the Book of Life, our deep human psyche. read more

Eric Duncan uninsured

Eric Duncan Uninsured Ebola Patient

News, Social Justice, , , ,

Thomas Eric Duncan went to the hospital seeking care for a deadly, and highly contagious, disease. The hospital staff saw his race and his lack of insurance and sent him home. Eric Duncan uninsured Ebola patient, died. Now Ebola virus is spreading in the United States.

Eric Duncan Uninsured and Black with Ebola

Thomas Eric Duncan, whom friends called Eric, was a Liberian immigrant to the United States. After a recent visit to his Ebola-stricken home country, Eric came back home to America and fell sick. He must have been relieved to be covered by the world’s greatest medical system. But, tragically, unlike the other white, wealthy, insured Ebola patients who recovered in America, Eric Duncan was uninsured, so he faced closed medical doors and ultimately death in America. read more

Where Your Treasure Is There Your Heart Is

Christian Culture, The Kingdom, ,

Matthew 6:19 (NIV)

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Privilege and Where Your Treasure Is

During a recent evening commute on a local bus, I was chatting with an acquaintance. He is an upper middle class white man, Baby Boomer age, solid in his job and finances. He will sometimes talk about very basic issues of power and privilege, but it is only an intellectual exercise for him. He has never known one day of need or injustice from oppression. read more

stroller in the snow

Stroller In The Snow

Holidays, Social Justice, ,

The wind howled furiously around her, like a pack of ravenous wolves ready to devour the first living thing who dared to venture out in the bitter cold. She struggled and limped through the piles of snow on the sidewalk. Her husband walked beside her, mightily pushing their three-year-old son in his stroller in the snow. Wheels caught and bowed to the pressure of the snow, hardened by wind and footprints into biting balls of ice.

The young family decided to try to push the stroller on the street, where snow plows had helped clear a way. Almost immediately, cars veered dangerously close to the child, and drivers angrily honked their horns.
“Why don’t you get a job? You are horrible parents,” one driver yelled out as he hastily rolled his window down and back up. read more

corporate slavery, money bag over head

The Corporate Slavery Plantation

Christian Culture, Social Justice,

Corporations Linked to Slavery

Do you dread work? Are you getting ahead in your job, achieving personal potential and destiny? Or are you just paying the rent? Welcome to the American dream! Many people live under the daily burden of American corporate slavery.

The American corporation achieved the status of a “person” under the law in the 1886 in a Supreme Court case, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific. This is only a few years after the close of the Civil War and the supposed end of slavery in the United States. This is no coincidence. A sinister transaction took place; the plantation slave owner was supplanted by a far more insidious slave master, the corporate “person.” read more

tragic death, leaf floating in rain

The Tragic Death of Sally

Stories and Poems, , , ,

No one remembered Sally. Perhaps no one even knew Sally. Sure, people had heard of Sally. Her picture had splashed across the news in a dramatic end to a quiet life. A life cut short by desperation. A tragic death.

***
Sally stared at the mirror, forward, then sideways.

Can you see the bulge? Perhaps if I arrange my dress this way, no one will notice.

Her thoughts flitted like the sunbeams spilling through the window. Nervous. Excited.

Sally eased herself into the chair, hiding her belly by slouching forward. She stared at the papers on her desk. read more

The CEO and the Pauper

Holidays, Stories and Poems, , ,

“Sunny day again today, Mr. Bracken.” The slim young man inched toward his boss. He watched for a nod from the gray-haired man sitting behind the desk, and then he took a seat at a nearby chair.

“Yes, just like the company finances. Everything is sun and roses.” Mr. Bracken adjusted his suit jacket and tie, then leaned back in his chair. He placed his arms behind his head and thought for a moment.

“You know, Tim, everything is going so much better since we laid off those 400 people last month.” He brought his arms forward and gestured to a graph in front of him. “Surprisingly, productivity has actually stayed up, and with the trimming of the budget we will all get nice Christmas bonuses this year.” read more

Hope

Mystical, ,

Hope.

How can one continue to hope when everything seems so hard in life?

I have applied to over 300 jobs, and I have received few interviews and no job offers. My finances are difficult; I am living by going to school and taking out loans. How can I ever hope to repay these loans? How can I ever hope to find a job?

Living in poverty is so hard. People constantly take what little money you do have. There are endless bank fees, raises on bus fare, raises on rent. There are clothes and diapers to buy for a fast-growing toddler, and food that grows ever more expensive. read more