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Showing kindness to the poor

There has been one constant in the 20 places I have lived, which bears out Christ’s verity – “The poor shall always be with us.”

As I wend my way to a downtown church, I sometimes pass the poor who are unkempt, attired in black, tattooed, malnourished, with similar appearing family and friends – their only assets, each other.

Bono, the pop singer, suggests that if I want to see Jesus that Sunday, I should stop right there and visit with them. As I recall, Jesus did find time for them and for appeals for their care.

According to many of our territorial drug arrests, some of these dear souls I see on our city streets must be returning to their hovels to concoct potions to kill their pain, for abject poverty, with no hope for the future, is no picnic. So, by virtue of their circumstances, they become easy prey for police profiling, with subsequent arrests and jail or prison time. If incarcerated, they may have one, overriding, aspiration while there: their first fix upon their release.

I, therefore, cannot be too condemnatory of the world’s drug dilemma. Why? Because God after Mother Earth’s creation called it good. Does that include marijuana, coca (cocaine), poppies (opium), grain (alcohol), and hundreds of chemically induced drugs, including meth and heroin?

So, in light of the aforementioned, should it not be wise for us mortals to pay heed to Glen Campbell’s song, “Show a Little Kindness.”

John Bryan

Parkersburg

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