that it was pretty interesting. It is about how we too often we see the bums on the street as blots on our pretty city streets, but in reality they actually are people with real life problems. "Slipped a homeless guy a buck the other day. After he mumbled off down the street, my companion sniffed her disapproval: "It only encourages them, you know. And he'll just use it for drugs or alcohol." I had looked him squarely in his gimlet eye. I could smell his breath. Safe to say she was right. "Who the hell cares what he uses it for?" I said. "If it kills the pain for a few hours, I'm happy to help (read the rest Here)."
As I was reading this I was thinking about a conversation I had the other day with someone, about World Vision and child sponsorship. There are some people who say that sponsoring children only makes them into beggars for the rest of their life, they become dependent on the goodwill and generosity of the West. But I've been thinking lately, who cares!? Maybe we will cause some problems, but hey the kids not DEAD! We want to make sure we are doing things the "right" way, that we are not just "enabling" people, but we as humanity are interconnected in a way that we probably will never understand. Unless you my neighbor (in the sense that Jesus means this word) are living in peace I will never be able to live in peace.
1 comment:
Great article. Very challenging.
You mentioned child sponsorship. I agree that at least we are doing something. I feel that I am being given the choice between life with problems or death. However I think the problem is that we have often thought that our aid is th god given best answer for the world. This blindness has not allowed for us to see the problems we create. Which means that we do not explore ways to provide aid that causes less problems. Let us do what we can now but let us also not be blind that we are creating problems and seek for ways to do things better.
Post a Comment