The Poor

I have never been poor.

There was a time when, as a single mother of two, I struggled to make ends meet.
But I made 3 times what our congress had determined to be the poverty level for a family of three.
So I wasn't poor.  But I couldn't imagine how anyone could live on 1/3 of what I made.

There was another, earlier time when I had to move in with my folks after having a baby.
I had to quit work to be with my son who was so, so sick. 
My parents paid for my COBRA insurance and the rest of our bills.
And I took food from the WIC program and the Earned Income Credit on my tax return.
So I wasn't poor.  But I couldn't imagine how anyone else made it without the help of a loving family or my government.
I have never been poor.
But that's only because other people helped me when I was young and because I had some excellent job skills later.

Becuz I saw how easy it could be to become poor, I do NOT understand our country's current obsession with blaming everything on poor people.  According to the current political mantra, it's not only their fault they're poor, it's their fault that our country is in this condition. 
Nevermind the crimes committed by wall street. 
Nevermind the unfunded wars, tax reductions, war on drugs and prison system. 
Nevermind the greedy or the hateful. 
It's all the fault of the poor.
Oh.  And of single moms. 
Especially poor single moms. 
(Couldn't single parenthood be a SYMPTOM of our society's failures instead of the CAUSE of them?
And shouldn't those condemning abortion, praise and support the women who choose to continue their pregnancies?)

I hit a breaking point yesterday when I heard this mantra at church.
AT CHURCH!!!!! 
The body of Christ that is supposed to love everyone becuz He loved us.
ESPECIALLY the poor. 

So I wrote a pretty long post on Facebook about what I believe is wrong with our country's view on poverty and, more importantly, why it's wrong for the church to follow the world on this one instead of following Jesus. 

You are more than welcome to read it there.
Thank you.