Efforts of philanthropy, humanitarianism, or just doing the right thing, often get tripped up by the depiction of the lazy, freeloading, unemployed adult. The image says those who are poor have chosen this lifestyle from their lack of willpower of determination to work. Unfortunately, this false idea limits the able from graciously helping their unable fellow human being. I implore you to not get caught in this snare. These ideas trample over the teachings of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Know these words he wrote from his cell in the Birmingham Jail, "Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”
Adults make mistakes. Adults make choices that can seem unforgivable, and if you seem to find their trespasses inexcusable, look to their children. If you find any wrong-doing in their parents, you can be certain their children have never thought of such actions.
Last summer I served as an Americorps member working in partnership with local education resources to improve literacy skills of elementary aged children. Many of these children came with troubling backgrounds. One child's family might have recently been evicted from their home, another might have their care giving parent in the hospital. The free government-provided lunch may be the only meal the children have that day. The organization, Feeding America, reports "13 million" or "1 in 6" children can be labeled as "food-insecure." Children who are considered food-insecure do not have a reliable or consistent source of food.
If food is inconsistent, what else may be inconsistent? Health insurance might be missing. Without health insurance, trips to doctors become too expensive. Children miss more days of school then their more fortunate peers because they couldn't get the antibiotics for strep throat. Visits to a dentist become impossible, cavities and other dental problems become an issue. The child might not be able to see an optometrist, won't receive needed glasses, and can't even seen what's on the board in front of them. The list of problems goes on, and it isn't hard to see how children might struggle in school.
I'm describing the United States of America. Many children have it bad here, but some many more have it worse across the globe. Pictures of Syria and Iraq speak for themselves, yet we do not listen. If you deny their parents, you deny the children, and the children they will have. What do you have to gain from not greeting everyone with open arms? Nothing.
