Praying and expecting everything to come from God and not doing
anything yourself is not praying. This is laziness; this is alienation.
This is passivity, conformity. This is not the time, dear brothers and
sisters, to say: It is God’s will. Many things happen that are not God’s
will. When people can contribute something of themselves to improve the
situation and ask God for the courage to do so, then there is prayer.
Oscar Romero, 1979, El Salvador
This week, amid news of political debates, two death row
executions, mass graves in Libya, plummeting stocks, and hand-wringing
from the General Assembly of the United Nations, I found myself standing
in a crowd in downtown Chicago listening to the words of the rapper and
political/social critic, Mos Def in his song,
Life in Marvelous Times:
…we are alive in amazing times
delicate hearts, diabolical minds
revelations, hatred, love and war
and more and more and more and more
and more of less than ever before
it’s just too much more for your mind to absorb…
In times like these, when world issues swirl in our heads and
politicians ascend the bully pulpit with what seems like no direction
at all, I struggle to find focus. I struggle to avoid hopelessness,
even despair. What can we do in the face of all of this pain, this
fear—what, among all of these issues, lies at the heart of the upheaval?
On Friday,
new statistics were released on poverty in the state of Illinois. This information comes on the heels of
national poverty stats
that place the U.S. poverty rate at its highest level in 52 years. As
both sets of census information reveal, poverty levels have skyrocketed.
Given the fact that there are 1,731,711 million people in
Illinois and 46.2 million in the U.S. living below the poverty line, I
think this is a good place to start.
The effects of the economic crisis on working people in
Illinois and throughout the nation have been devastating. The vulnerable
include the unemployed, the under-employed, the elderly and the
disabled. As unemployment rises and the state of Illinois experiences
yet another budget crisis, a growing number of working people are
falling into poverty. As income disparity between the upper and lower
classes grows, those who had least to begin with are now faced with, in
the words of Mos Def, “more of less than ever before.”
In the wake of these startling figures, and in the face of
the utter devastation of countless sisters, brothers, children around
us, people of faith are called to respond. The poor are always with us,
yes, but this does not mean that poverty is an issue to be ignored, and
while it’s hard to imagine a simple solution to an overwhelming
problem, I would propose that the first step we should take as
Christians, people of faith, or even just as people of conviction, is to
simply bring attention to this issue.
The poverty line in the United States is established at an
annual income of $14,710 for a family of two. For a family of four, the
poverty threshold is an annual income of less than $22,350. There are
46.2 million people in this country living below
that line.
These numbers are astounding, and the worst part of looking at figures
like these is the realization that behind every statistic is the face of
a person who cannot make ends meet.
Last week, we heard presidential candidates wax poetic about
everything from HPV vaccinations to climate change. We shook our heads
as Barack Obama introduced a bill that may or may not increase jobs and
boost our economy. We walked down the streets of our major cities and
passed
protestors calling for an end to corporate personhood. But then what did we do? What can we do?
Perhaps the easiest place to start (or maybe this is the
hardest) is to think about the way we are voting. When we think about
the upcoming elections we are inclined to think about our own
self-interest, but now is the time as people of faith to remember the
46.2 million people around us and to be sure that our voices and our
votes speak out for this population.
In these hard times, there are glimmers of hope. Churches
and charities continue to do a really good job of helping people in
need. There are more and more food pantries, shelters, etc. popping up
all over the city of Chicago. These are all helpful and necessary
resources when poverty is running rampant. But clearly poverty is a
systemic problem and one that continues to grow.
In the coming months, we are going to hear all sorts of
politicians talk about the policies that are good and the policies that
are bad. I urge you to do your best to remember these facts and
figures. Think of the faces of the people you pass on the street. And
imagine raising your two children on $22,000 a year.
We have seen the way that politics can stir a nation. As a
new election season approaches, and as a host of potential new leaders
emerge, my prayer is that our hands, our feet, our voices and our votes
can be used to help those who need it most.
