One summer about ten years ago, my wife and I were
volunteers for a week on an Indian reservation in Montana. Part of our
assignment was to perform tasks like unpacking books and supplies for the book
store, delivering "meals on wheels" to some Indian families, and
tutoring some of the kids. Importantly, we were also asked to engage the
residents, and to share what challenges and successes we saw in our respective
lives. The residents were encouraged to do the same with us. Out of
these conversations, I began to change my view of these low-income residents
of the Reservation.
One thing I learned is that shame is a major part of
the brokenness that low-income people experience in their relationship with
themselves. Instead of seeing themselves as being created in the image of
God, low-income people often feel they are inferior to others. This can
paralyze the poor, preventing them from taking initiative and from seizing
opportunities to improve their situation, thereby locking them into permanent
material poverty.
At the same time, because I was able to afford this Montana
venture, and lived comfortably in Summit, New Jersey, I realized that I also
suffered from a deficiency. Specifically, I was a candidate to have a
kind of "god-complex," a subtle and unconscious sense of superiority
in which I could believe that I had achieved my "wealth" completely
through my own efforts and that I had been anointed to decide what was best for
low-income people, whom I might view as inferior to myself.
Few of us may be conscious of having a
"god-complex," but that may be part of the problem. Are we
often deceived by our own sinful natures? For example, consider why do we
want to help the poor? Really think about it. What truly motivates
you? Do you really love poor people so much, and eagerly want to serve
them? Or, do you have additional motives?
I confess that part of what motivates me to help the poor is
my felt need to accomplish something worthwhile with my life, to be a person of
significance, to feel I have pursued a noble cause, perhaps to be a bit like
God. It makes me feel good to use my resources to "save" poor
people. And in the process, I guess I sometimes unintentionally reduce
poor people to objects that I can use to fulfill my own need to accomplish
something. It is a very ugly truth, and it pains me to admit it, but
when I want to be good, the evil of feeding my ego is right there with me.
Perhaps we have been lucky. Perhaps we have worked
hard and been well-focused in our lives. But, how much is truly our earned
reward, and how much has come to us by the grace of God ---- and thus should be
shared?
Are the opportunities any of us are born into, some gift of
God? I was fortunate in being born into a college-educated family, and
then I was admitted to a challenging college, where I could discover my gifts
and develop marketable skills. Sure I could have wasted these
opportunities, but that would have been in conflict with the culture of my
family and those I socialized with.
What if others and my particular culture had not laid
out for me this path of growth and personal development? I would be a
very different person today, and perhaps struggling. Indeed, I did work hard
and I did apply myself, but others provided me some great opportunities.
I must remember that for many of the poor it is their lack
of opportunities --- the lack of the "shoulders" I was able to stand
on, which doomed them to be poor. Yes, some of them may have lacked
ambition and determination to better themselves economically. But, those
who had ambition and determination lacked an important thing ---- opportunities.
They may have felt shame for their poverty, but perhaps the real source of
their poverty was outside them. Was it just the absence of
"shoulders" to stand on. If I really want to help the poor,
perhaps I need to focus on nurturing their opportunities ---- sort of
like the old cliche: "Don't just give a man a meal. Instead, teach
him how to fish, and he will always have a meal."
Do you wonder whom you should thank for your
opportunities in life? Perhaps God was there, working through the
"direct" providers, each of whom did something, contributed a little
piece of the big picture, that formed today's YOU. Can you be one
of those "direct" providers for someone else?
Let's think of helping others beyond their mere
survival. How can we engineer opportunities for personal development that
prior generations of struggling populations were not even aware were
possible? Perhaps this is the next chapter in the ongoing story of our
help to others.
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult
Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you in some personal spiritual
growth this winter at CPC.
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