March 3 | Friday in the First Week of Lent

We talk a lot about the poor. We talk about them as if they were things. The poor this and the poor that…. We say that we have to help the poor. Or we say that the poor need to help themselves. Or we say that Christ Jesus loves the poor. We even say that Jesus was poor. Is it fair of me to say that we have no idea what we are talking about? Or even whom we are talking about? Why? Most of us do not know anyone who is poor. We do not want to be poor. So how can we love the poor when we hate their poverty? I do not know the answer. It is a puzzle.

Nelson Mandela often spoke of poverty. He knew poverty firsthand. He was poor. “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is rather the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity.”

The word Shame is a verb primarily.

Shame: To make another feel guilty and embarrassed. To cause yourself or another to lose self respect or a good reputation. 

But shame is also a noun. A stigma. A mark of discredit. 

Here is a question: Why is it that people who are poor are so often blamed for their circumstances? Why is it that there can be so much stigma associated with struggling to get by or living on a low income? 

I grew up on comic papers. My father would gather us in his chair or in his lap and read Little Orphan Annie, the iconic beloved little girl, the creation of Harold Gray in 1924. There was a time in America when poverty was understood for what it was. An assault on dignity.

To be poor means just that. To be poor is to do without. To do without the things we need. To be uncertain of the future and to fear what tomorrow will bring. To be poor is to depend on others. Little Orphan Annie knew what it means to be poor. She was poor and unwanted. It’s a hard knock life.