A Disclaimer: This post is also a reflection of my personal beliefs and convictions, and not necessarily position of the agency I currently work for.
This morning, my husband and I listened to Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech in commemoration of this day. As I listened, it reminded me of something a co-worker recently said in a meeting, "This [poverty] is this generation's march." I am serving on a committee at work that is looking at what our community (Fort Worth, TX and Tarrant County) would like look out of poverty, and this statement was said as a part of one of those meetings. I pray that Dr. King will be honored today as I create my own version of his speech for this generation's march.
I pray for the day when employers will go beyond the minimum wage and pay a living wage to their employees and take up their honorable duty to provide medical benefits to all employees no matter how many hours they work, so that parents do not have decided between medical care or groceries for their families.
I pray for the day when medical care is provided for everyone despite employment status, so that no one has to live in fear of getting sick or injured. I pray for the day that the World Health Organization does not rank the United States "slightly ahead of Chad and Rwanda, but just behind Bangladesh and the Maldives" (The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, Reid, T.R.) in terms of fairness in access to medical care.
I have a prayer today!
I pray for the day when those who do not worry about paying bills will not pity and disparage those who need assistance, just assuming that they are lazy, but will reach out a hand and walk side-by-side with a neighbor no matter how they found themselves in need.
I pray for the day that high school graduates do not have assume a mortgage sized debt in order to get a college degree.
I pray for the day that healthy food is not only accessible to all, but affordable as well.
I pray for the day that poverty does not lend itself to creating victims of modern and sexual slavery.
I have a prayer today!
I pray for the day that that Body of Christ will look past denominational labels and come together in being the hands and feet of Christ to carry out His words in Matthew 25: 34-36.
I pray that God will show me how to care for "the least of these" in my community.
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining a world without poverty, we must not be guilty of just throwing money at a "problem." Let us not seek to relieve ourselves of discomfort at the sight of those in need by drinking from the cup of disdain and indifference. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of love and compassion. We must not allow a creative protest against social injustice to degenerate into a pat on the back. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting material complacency with soul conviction.
The marvelous new awareness of poverty, which is engulfing communities must not lead us to a distrust of all those with means, for there are many who seek to alleviate the burden of poverty. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of those in poverty.
We cannot walk alone.
