There is a movement underway to establish a Presidential Cabinet post to study and to meet the societal problem of poverty.  But I ask, "Haven't we already studied it enough?" 

 

We have come a long way in recent years.  Vagrancy is no longer a crime.  People without resources are no longer threatened with arrest and jail.  We've changed the name, and now call it "homelessness."  But sadly, we have learned that changing the name of a problem does not solve it.  Poverty still exists all around us.

 

Perhaps the problem remains because those who study it have never experienced or shared the pathos, the pain, and the problems that are sill endemic among the poor in society.

 

Like a doctor examining a patient, we can describe the symptoms and the incidence of the problem ... but that doesn't mean that we can feel the pain it causes.  Likewise with poverty, we examine its effect on our society as well as on the individual ... but that doesn't mean that we can perceive the despair that surrounds those individuals who are caught up in the cycle of poverty.  And that is the root of the problem.  We see it but we don't understand it.  We "see but we don't perceive it."

 

Or as Jesus said, we are like those who are "ever seeing but never perceiving."  Mark 4:12.

 

I truly believe that it is only when you love someone that you can enter into their lives and perceive their pan.  Then you can experience in your own life their feelings and the depth of their ennui, their anomie, and their hopelessness.  Perhaps its true that the only resolution to the problem of poverty is not to study it as much as to love the poor enough to enter into the world of the poor and to share their experiences.  For as W.H. Auden has stated in his poem:*

 

We must Love one another or die."

* September 1, 1939

 

If you are interested, please call Nora Ragon at 475-1303 x 102 and let her know the day or days you would be available.  If you want to volunteer with a friend, we can use two volunteers at a time.  We will ask you to complete our regular Volunteer Application Form.

 

 

 

 

 

Bill Hybels will be in Lincoln on September 12 as our featured speaker.  Please plan to attend the Leadership Conference during the day and/or the PCM Banquet that evening. 

 

You will be inspired, I guarantee it!         

 

 

States were ranked in the following categories.  Nebraska's rank in in parenthesis.  One is the highest rank and 50 the lowest.

 

Infant Mortality   (24)

Child Deaths - birth to age 4   (34)

Teen Deaths - age 15 to 19   (25)

Birth to mothers ages 15 to 19   (20)

Late or no prenatal care  (22)

% of Children Living in Poverty   (13)

% of Children Uninsured   (28)

Rate of Juvenile Incarceration   (36)

Child abuse fatalities    (17)

Per Capita Child Welfare Expenditures   (10)

Total tax burden   (22)

Overall rank   (23)

 

Every child is a gift from God.  Our daily work is to help children and families in our community.  Your gifts to PCM help to address the problems of Lincoln children who are living in poverty.  Thank you.