33 Cents

As I was walking to school yesterday from my epic downtown Walgreens journey, I was approached by a homeless man asking for a bit of spare change. My intitial thought was to give the usual "sorry I just spent all my money" on whatever it is I'm holding at the time. But for whatever reason I decided to be honest yesterday. I remembered I had a bit of change in my pocket from the cookies I had just bought (09 bakesale!) and so I gave the guy what I had. He asked me if I could spare a bit more, and knowing that I had a hefty stack of ones in my wallet, I politely told him no, and we said our have a good days and went on our way. So as I walked on to school I had a smile on my face, feeling a bit self-rightous about giving the man probably about 33 cents. A few hours later I began to realize that that 33 cents would get him nowhere. Now I'm sure you're probably saying, "well now Eric, don't feel so bad about not giving the hobo a whole dollar. After all, he's only gonna go out and buy a beer with it." And maybe that's true, but even if it was, so what? I mean, what else would one do in that situation? Wondering aimlessly around a giant slab of concrete with no one to talk to all day must be horrifyingly boring. The problem of homelessness has always bothered me. I always felt a little bit sorry for the guys sleeping on top of grates or under benches when I was younger, but now it really just makes me angry. I think it's a tragedy that so many in the richest nation on earth have nothing. Absolutely nothing. No money, no family, no hope. And meanwhile, their fellow citizens spend money like crazy on luxuries. I absolutely detest those who say that we should basically hold our noses and run away from the poor because they are lazy and thus deserve to be in their condition. "Get a job!" they yell. Well how does the rich guy know how the homeless guy wound up in his state? Maybe he had a job, maybe his family abandoned him. The point is, if someone is in need, how can we as a supposedly "Christian" nation completely give up on the downtrodden. It shouldn't matter how they got in that state. They're in it now, and we're not doing anything. It only shows the hypocrosy of the Christian right, as they so gleefully preach their pro-life fetus saving message and go on morally charged bigotry crusades against gays, but then do nothing to help the poor. If Jesus came back today, would he really say to the church goers of this nation, "Well thanks for completely screwing the poor, because obviously stopping two men from screwing each other was so much more important."? Come on now.
The next time I'm asked for a bit of spare change I think I'm going to reach a bit deeper into those pockets of mine, or maybe even open up that wallet of mine. But if we can ever hope to rid the world of poverty, we must be willing to open up not only our wallets. We must open our hearts to these people who society has so wrongly thrown out and welcome them back into a true state of equality and justice.