Oct

15

Reflections on poverty – Blog Action Day




 

 

 

 

 

I took a leap of faith when I registered my blog to participate in Blog Action Day. Not because I don’t want to get involved, but because I rarely feel like I can post with authority on anything. But I can participate in this discussion on poverty.

I cannot say I’ve experience extreme poverty. I’ve seen extreme poverty and I know enough to be thankful that I’ve not lived it. But after skipping through my twenties without a worry about money, suddenly I found myself with 2 small children, and a husband with a good, albeit low paying job. Things got tight very quickly when the decision was made for me to stay home with those children. I was working part time jobs, split shifts so that we wouldn’t have to pay daycare, which we couldn’t afford. Then add in an unexpected move to a better, but also low paying job for my husband and suddenly we were forced to make hard choices.

There was always food, many nights it was Ramen or tuna casserole. We were safe and healthy. But there were enough things that we had to do without, enough choices that had to be made, that it was a rough few years. I spent those years ignoring my own health care in order to make sure we could cover the co pays for our childrens healthcare. Things like eye doctors, dentists and regular checkups were luxuries, at least for my husband and I. We scraped to make sure the kids had what they needed and we did without.

I’m certainly not trying to say that I considered us to be in poverty during that time. I’m so thankful that we weren’t. My point in sharing this is to say, I’ve been in a place where I thought we had it hard, but in the big scheme of things, we did not. So I try to imagine just how much worse it could have been. That’s the place we need to go to.  We have to go there, because so many people, families, children, are in that horrible place.

The amazing thing is, when we were struggling to make ends meet, angels appeared out of nowhere. Angels who offered to help, offered money, offered food, offered hand me downs for my children, offered prayers. Angels that I had never met before and haven’t met to this day helped us.

I want to be an angel, like so many were for me. I want to help, in any way I can. I can’t help in big ways, but I can and do help in many small ways. Here are some of the things I do to try to be an angel for someone in need:

  • Take food to the local food pantry.
  • Clean out my childrens closets and take the lightly worn clothes that they’ve grown out of to the local Catholic Charities.
  • Participate in our churches Angel Tree program at Christmas. I let each of my sons pick out a child from the tree to get a gift for.
  • I get emails from our area freecycle community, and when someone posts a need for something that I have,  I give it to them.
  • When I noticed that there was a child at my sons school who continually wore shoes with holes and pants 3 sizes too big, I spoke with the counselor and made arrangements to purchase some clothes and shoes that fit the child.

These are small things, but I know for a fact that every small thing helps. I can’t not help. Struggling for even that short time was the best thing that ever happened to me. It made me kinder, more compassionate, and it instilled in me a great desire to give. I look forward to the day when I can give more, and help in more ways.

Let’s all be angels.

 

This post is part of Blog Action Day 08 – Poverty

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    Filed Under Inspiration | 1 Comment 

    One Response to “Reflections on poverty – Blog Action Day”

      1
        Karen R on October 15th, 2008 3:51 pm

        Nicely written………we need more angels. Thanks.