I have to say, today something happened on Facebook that truly startled me. An amazing number of people changed their profile pic to proclaim their support for marriage equality. It is a worthy issue. Marriage equality is important.
I wasn't one of them. Not because I don't believe in marriage equality. I do believe in it. But I don't believe that the US Supreme Court should judge the case based on popular opinion. And I suspect the court will come out in favor of marriage equality because legally, I don't think it has a choice--I think the law is on the side of marriage equality.
But the reason the whole thing astonished me is this: today, 32,000 people died of hunger on the planet. A child died every minute of malaria. And we never see thousands of people change their Facebook profile pics to bring awareness to the issues of hunger and poverty in this country, or in the world in general. Why is that?
It is, apparently, easier to be concerned about marriage equality than it is to be concerned about starvation, hunger, poverty, homelessness, etc. And I do not understand this. Is it because there is no court case to be fought and won?
If I were to express a wish, a deep heartfelt wish, this Holy Week, it would be that we pay a bit more attention to those who we continue to leave by the side of the road--the hungry, the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill, the wrongly imprisoned. We ignore these groups at our own peril. The child who is hungry tonight will not learn well in school tomorrow, and will struggle to get a job and support himself the day after that.
I am angry. I hate to put it that way, but I am. I want Equal Rights for EVERYONE. I want the hungry to have the same right to a meal as the rich person. I want the homeless person to have the same right to a safe place to sleep as the businessman. I am not advocating socialism or communism, just basic CHRISTIAN DECENCY.
And I have to say, the church is part of the problem (I mean the church in general, not my congregation). The church has spent way too much time worrying about who is sleeping with whom, and the morality and legality of it all. Personally, if you think it is a sin, that is your issue, not mine. If it is, it is surely not the only sin happening on the planet.
In Matthew 25, Jesus explains (for the umpteenth time) the duty and privilege it is to feed the hungry. We are to look into the face of each hungry person, each prisoner, each naked person, each societal outcast and SEE THE FACE OF JESUS. Instead, too many of us see a person we prefer to think of as "those people".
My grouchiness may be due to hunger. Got home late, and just ate dinner. Baked sweet potato and red beans and rice. I was so hungry, I barely tasted it. I think I burned my throat. But I am full. Thankfully, blissfully full.
And I am lucky, because I can abandon this project any time I want. There is nothing to stop me from a McDonald's run tonight (well, I am in my pajamas, so I would have to get dressed). Or I can chose to continue to walk (as best I can) side by side with those who struggle with hunger daily.
How long until people care?
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