The Dregs…

What do you do when you have five children, have just kicked out your abusive paramour, and have exactly $45 more than your rent for the month because your former lover, the father of your youngest three children, stole your food stamps card when he left? What do you do when you have no vehicle to get to food pantries in the city? What do you do when you can’t afford the child care for your five kids so that you can even begin looking for a job? What do you do when you have no phone to receive calls from prospective employers even if you find a way to apply for jobs on foot that are within a couple of miles of your house? How do you wash your dishes without any form of soap? What do you do when you have twins of 19 months and have nothing with which to diaper them?

This may be the plight of one woman that I know, but she is not the only one who is caught in a similar cycle of poverty. Poverty is a trap from which it is almost impossible to get out. It lays its snare, lies in wait, and won’t let go of its victims without the victim losing something dear. More often than not, getting out of poverty requires the leaving behind of many of one’s closest friends and being disowned by those that one has possessed (and been possessed by) in a way that the middle and upper classes can not grasp. Leaving poverty behind requires a wrenching and clawing out of a trap that will not willingly let go.

I feel so helpless as I watch hopelessness feeding bad choices and an attitude of fatalism that leaves its mark on multiple generations.

Lord have mercy.  Christ have mercy.  Lord have mercy.