By Chuck Robison
“If this is going to be a Christian nation that does not help the poor, either we’ve got to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and admit that we just don’t want to do it” Stephen Colbert
Am I my brother’s keeper, or what?
This question, reveals that we are in a spiritual crisis in America that could be called an eclipse of compassion.
Somehow “The Haves” are concerned that when seeking help, “The Have Nots” are trying to cheat them and the system. The cry for compassion is lost amid the fear that any call for help is a scam.
Look at how America is seen around the world right now:
Three million Syrian refugees (1/3 are children) are living in the Jordanian desert while America seems more willing to find places on which to drop bombs than to find ways to support these refugees.
As many as 40,000 Central Americans are trying to escape the criminal takeover of their own countries and are being criminalized at the American border, themselves, for seeking asylum in America. This is underscored by the fact that America’s drug habit is being sustained through the collusion of the cartels and the highest levels of our government. Much easier to blame the refugees than to even look at how our drug dependence has created a six hundred billion dollar profit center for those in this country on the take.
In a response showing a monumental lack of compassion and wisdom, we seem more comfortable in deporting the refugee children than deporting the drugs and drug dealers who are already here. If we are being invaded by 11 year-old drug dealers, as some claim, that only reveals how deeply this nation is addicted to drugs.
In essence, the question is not “who is our brother’s keeper” but when will all of us understand that we are our brothers’ brothers. Until we realize that we have
almost 8 billion brothers and sisters, all connected on this planet, we will not be able to understand compassion.
As Manley P. Hall stated, “When mob governs, man is ruled by ignorance; when the church governs, he is ruled by superstition; when the state governs, he is ruled by fear.”
Before men can live together in harmony and understanding, ignorance must be transmuted into wisdom; superstition into illuminated faith, and fear into love.”
So ask yourself: Are you willing to let charity begin at your home?
Certainty some conflicted messages we accept and fail to reflect on. Particularly liked the issue on drugs…we are addicted as a culture to them, but we punish those who supply the drugs that serve our habits. Therefore we avoid addressing our habits…we seek to punish the poor for abusing the system without considering how great we benefit from the same system at the expense of the poor. I pay more interest at the bank on credit cards because I am middle class, not rich. Yet my payment record is flawless. Perhaps only because I do not spend more…consume more I cannot get the benefits of the rich. They can afford it, and pay less to borrow and utilize their class. So, Christians are really what? Stephen Cobert…shut up! Or speak louder!
It is impressive to me as a New Zealander to listen to you folks from the US discuss your own unease about your own society. I am very uneasy about mine. This unease may be the beginning of a greater wisdom and a more human and christian quality for ourselves and persons and for our societies – yours and mine. It’s like George Herbert’s quaint poem The Pulley about the “rest” denied to us in our innermost hearts so that “unrest” will drive us back to The Great Provider.
Here’s the poem:
When God at first made man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by,
“Let us,” said he, “pour on him all we can.
Let the world’s riches, which dispersèd lie,
Contract into a span.”
So strength first made a way;
Then beauty flowed, then wisdom, honour, pleasure.
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that, alone of all his treasure,
Rest in the bottom lay.
“For if I should,” said he,
“Bestow this jewel also on my creature,
He would adore my gifts instead of me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature;
So both should losers be.
“Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness;
Let him be rich and weary, that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to my breast.”
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173635