If it’s hard to comprehend the plight of the poor, it is because that person has never been hungry. If it’s difficult to understand why the poor steal and cheat their way out of every opportunity to make money, it is because that individual has never really seen how six of the poor’s kids share a cup of rice with no viand. If it’s too deep to fathom the motivations, the drive, the desires of the poor to do anything to make ends meet, even to the point of living in a place close to where they work to save money, it is because that person has become jaded, calloused and too hypocrite to know what it means to be poor.
In a country hailed as a Christian nation in Asia, I wonder what it means to be a Good Samaritan. A man who gathers boxes of goods as donations from his neighbors living in a posh neighborhood and then delivers these boxes to a non-profit organization so these can be distributed to the poor? Or a woman who, along with her friends, goes to communities and build day care centers, paint classrooms and teach children how to read and write? What about the government employee who sits in front of the computer and assists a member with regard to his contributions so that that member can avail of an educational loan for his daughter’s tuition fee in college? Or that high school teacher, who strains her voice everyday from 8 AM to 4 PM, educating students about Grammar, History and Algebra, some of which will never be put to good use because some of these students will eventually get pregnant, raise children who dream of getting a college degree but could not because of the exorbitant tuition fees?
We have been raised hypocrites. We worship saints and apostles who followed the commandments of Jesus to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and minds” and to “love your neighbor as yourself”, but we spit at the poor as if they belong in a planet called Poorita. We talk about helping the needy, kiss the hand of the priests and say Amen to every homily about serving others, but we despicably tolerate the corrupt leaders of this country. What’s funny is that these government officials are self-proclaimed good Christians too.
We are the laughing stock of the world because we are quick to sound our battle cry in protecting our image as a nation when the capital of our country is labeled as “Gates of Hell” by a well-known novelist. In our sensitivities, we fail to acknowledge that there’s truth to what the author said, even if everything in the book is entirely fiction. Our South East Asian neighbors look down on us because we elect plunderers, cheaters and even showbiz personalities who have no clue as to what they are doing in the House of Congress, to the point of using what they do best, acting err crying, when their stand is being attacked by their colleagues.
We praise Manny Pacquiao in his wins but we criticize him in his losses. We take pride in being a Filipino when someone represents us internationally but we bash an individual when he or she admits his/her sexual preference. We are a selective bunch of entities. We only support the ones that will make us feel good and despise the ones that will make us feel bad.
Have we become so sheltered in our air-conditioned malls that we are blinded by the glass walls that separate our tiled corridors to the shanty dwelling places of the informal settlers? Have we become apathetic to the beggars on the street because we perceive them as members of a syndicate operating on exploiting the helpless, that we get used to seeing them in our overpass and foot bridges? Have we become too unfeeling that we think we are not required to extend a hand anymore because the poor have abused our generosity?
There was a time when an old woman, along with her daughter, rode the jeepney that I also took. She sat across from me and I noticed that she was clutching a plastic bag full of coins. Then she started crying. She told us passengers that her son was killed and that they have no money to pay for the funeral costs. I felt her desperation so I, out of pity, gave.
But she connected with me. I saw sorrow in her eyes. I saw her need. I just didn’t know how to help her more.
And then it dawned on me that the reason why the middle class, the rich, including the government officials should do everything in their power to protect the poor is because the poor when given hope will take it wholeheartedly, along with their desire to crawl out of the dungeons of ignorance and inequality, and do their best to improve themselves. It is not true that the poor does not dream of a better life. All men do. Even the ones who sleep under the bridge with no blanket, no pillow and no walls to keep them warm.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This is one of the beatitudes in the book of Matthew. To relegate the poor as helpless and useless encumbrances of this country does not only make us hypocrites; it also makes us selfish pigs.
Why is this girl not in school?
The Prodigal Kid 