Bread Giver

It’s 2 o’clock in the morning and I’m on a trip down memory lane. From kindergarten to eighth grade I attended Holy Family, and that decade or so memorizing and reciting by heart prayers such as the Ten Commandments, the Eight Beatitudes, so on and so forth, has reminded me of the great emphasis that Christianity has put on the poor, especially the Roman Catholic Church, which, ironically enough, is against most forms of government aid. Their argument, best explained in this article (Read more: http://dollarsanddoctrine.com/2010/03/how-should-a-christian-view-the-welfare-system/) is not that the poor should not receive any form of help when it’s needed the most, rather, it is the church that should be the giver, versus our government. It all comes down to supporting the needy, and there’s a reason for why there’s a separation, or an attempted separation at least, between church and state. Not everyone is a Christian! And I can see how government aiding programs are available because they don’t force beliefs down anyone’s throats or promote a religion that the individual might not believe in or necessarily share. However, I also see the point of the Christian argument, that more and more people are shutting their hearts off from others and becoming increasingly less generous, simply put, because the government is already there for the poor in the many forms of welfare, therefore, the poor and needy do not require any further assistance, which, of course, could not be farther from the truth. We see kids half our age with cellphones as nice as businessmen down in Wall Street, and it becomes increasingly clear how insignificant the value of a dollar is now regarded. Electronics, something teenagers will forever be enamored with, are becoming cheaper and more affordable as time progresses, and things such as food, clothing, and shelter are belittled because we are fortunate enough to live in a society that greatly believes in the idea of comfortable living, which many of the middle to upper classes enjoy. I support the notion of welfare, but I feel there has to be something more to it besides the actual money and food that the poor receive, and whether spiritual interference can alter the downward spiral most of the impoverished face is another can of worms all together. From 1946-1952, our nation experienced a boom in productivity, so much so that we were able to send money and assistance to the war torn countries of France and Great Britain, who suffered tremendous turmoil as a consequence of World War II. Everyone was working and participating in our country’s economic growth, which was previously stunted due to the Great Depression. As Mr. Bonamo said, the argument in regards to helping the poor would be the personal story of success, and how I as an able bodied person was able to make a name for myself and get out of poverty, so why can’t everyone do the same and leave me and my prosperity alone? I couldn’t agree more with this person, you deserve your money, and in our capitalist society, we should applaud you and let you go on your merry way. But the nuns that taught me how to write in script and drilled grammar into my brain (which is waning as this mutant paragraph progresses) haunt me in this respect. Wouldn’t the world be a much happier place with crinkly, sweet faced old women handing out bread to the poor? I think we, not the church, but WE as in THE PEOPLE, should help the poor, even if it’s a dollar to a random hobo who hangs around your train stop, or a $20,000 check to supply the mountainfolk of the Appalachians with the creation of more schools. Don’t you feel fuzzy inside whenever you help someone out? Redistribution of wealth is a lovely concept, but I feel it is rewarding if we do that kind of thing on our own, rather than having the government take whatever sum we make from our begrudged, unhappy faces. Of course, something like that is a near impossible thing to do, no matter how many advertisements remind us of the less fortunate. Of course, all of this is merely just a thought.