A Fool's Business
Waiting in traffic with a Mercedes on my left, a Lexus SUV on my right, and a barefoot little kid rapping on my window with a styrofoam cup in his hands. Common knowledge tells me that’s his father sitting on a dirty bucket near the corner. Instead of finding work, he’s got his kids working the corner. If they don’t bring home enough dinero, they get a beating. The more deft ones juggle balls or limes, others just stick their filthy hands out for money. The kid jugglers with their faces painted like rejected clowns I usual give a coin to if I have it. The others I just pass by, eyes forward.
What do you do?
In the U.S., you have to walk certain streets of larger cities to be confronted with this. Here, it’s everywhere, and not just “bag ladies” or crumpled up grown men, but kids, some of them younger than Mallory. Do you give them something because you can, because it wouldn’t make a spit of difference to the way you live your life since you already have everything you need; or do you take the high road (or is it the low?) and refuse to perpetuate the problem, let the kid take his licks?
It’s an old and tired debate, I know, but when you’re confronted daily with it no matter where you go, it’s a heavy business. Of course I have no clear answer. I’ve heard both sides, and agree with both. After all, I am the consummate fence-rider, as Kristin likes to say. What makes it difficult for me though is that, no matter the argument, I can’t avoid concluding that I did not choose to be born into a good, middle-class, parents-stay-together, work-their-asses-off, send-you-to-college, love-you-to-death family. It simply happened to me. By grace or whatever you want to call it, it happened that way, and not because of anything I did or could have done. Our lives, ultimately, are given to us. And the minute I begin to hear myself thinking, “Why should I give them anything? Why don’t they get an honest job,” I know I ought to be slugged for it. Better to ask, with King David, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?”
The old Christian proverb goes like this: The only things you take to heaven are the things you gave away. The point, of course, is that Christians are called, ultimately, to give themselves away. In a world increasingly governed by the Self, however you look at it, being a Christian is a fool’s business.
In my secret heart, I would chose mercy. From the sidelines (where it is always more comfortable, and where I have made a home for myself) I would stand to the point of gross error, even redicule, on the side of generosity. But Christ help me, because I am good at neither, and hold on far too tightly to myself, especially in a strange land, where it feels as if, were you to begin to give just a little of yourself to the overwhelming pain that is everywhere present, that pain would soon pull all the rest of your life out of you. There would be no turning back. Of course, the pain of Guatemala is the same pain in every other corner of the world. It demands nothing less than the only thing a fool can give it, which is himself.
What do you do?
In the U.S., you have to walk certain streets of larger cities to be confronted with this. Here, it’s everywhere, and not just “bag ladies” or crumpled up grown men, but kids, some of them younger than Mallory. Do you give them something because you can, because it wouldn’t make a spit of difference to the way you live your life since you already have everything you need; or do you take the high road (or is it the low?) and refuse to perpetuate the problem, let the kid take his licks?
It’s an old and tired debate, I know, but when you’re confronted daily with it no matter where you go, it’s a heavy business. Of course I have no clear answer. I’ve heard both sides, and agree with both. After all, I am the consummate fence-rider, as Kristin likes to say. What makes it difficult for me though is that, no matter the argument, I can’t avoid concluding that I did not choose to be born into a good, middle-class, parents-stay-together, work-their-asses-off, send-you-to-college, love-you-to-death family. It simply happened to me. By grace or whatever you want to call it, it happened that way, and not because of anything I did or could have done. Our lives, ultimately, are given to us. And the minute I begin to hear myself thinking, “Why should I give them anything? Why don’t they get an honest job,” I know I ought to be slugged for it. Better to ask, with King David, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?”
The old Christian proverb goes like this: The only things you take to heaven are the things you gave away. The point, of course, is that Christians are called, ultimately, to give themselves away. In a world increasingly governed by the Self, however you look at it, being a Christian is a fool’s business.
In my secret heart, I would chose mercy. From the sidelines (where it is always more comfortable, and where I have made a home for myself) I would stand to the point of gross error, even redicule, on the side of generosity. But Christ help me, because I am good at neither, and hold on far too tightly to myself, especially in a strange land, where it feels as if, were you to begin to give just a little of yourself to the overwhelming pain that is everywhere present, that pain would soon pull all the rest of your life out of you. There would be no turning back. Of course, the pain of Guatemala is the same pain in every other corner of the world. It demands nothing less than the only thing a fool can give it, which is himself.
posted by Daniel Todd at 6:38 AM
2 Comments:
DT -
Follow the Spirit's prompting in these matter. If you're moved to give, then give. But always check your motives. Are you giving out of generosity and love? Or, are you giving out of pity and guilt? God searches the heart.
Lynn and I purposely give to ministries that treat the whole man (physical and spiritual). I never understood feeding the needy without feeding their soul first. Doesn't make sense.
Anyway, this is how we give, and then we can direct those begging to those ministries for "real" help. I'm sure things are much different in Guatemala, but there may be something.
There are times when the Spirit says give to this man or give to that child (sometimes I obey, sometimes I don't). But it is never enough...and never will be. That's part of the burden of this life. The fact that you sensse the weight of this burden is a good sign - it means you are a follower of Christ. But it's important that you cast that burden on Him and not try to carry it yourself.
Doug
I think this debate gets too easily clouded by talk of "making a difference," which I think is ultimately rooted in our fixation on success. We need results, or some way to measure the effect our effort has on something or someone. I don't believe that's the point at all. A "fool's business" is to give oneself away with no expectation of a return on investment.
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