I have been told more than once that I think too much; this is probably true. My answer, snarky though it may be, is that somebody has think too much – too many people think too little. The truth is that my brain never shuts off, which can be exhausting. That preamble is to set up what may seem like a meaningless topic for this daily blog; I don’t believe it is. The other day, the song “Rag Doll” by the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons popped into my head. Why? I have no idea – this is a group I actively dislike, and I was 4 years old when this song was a hit. As I thought through the lyrics, it struck me that this is a song that demonizes the poor. The lyrics are about a girl who is “too pretty” do be poor. She dresses in rags and is laughed at; the singer’s parents won’t let him be her friend because she’s “no good.” She should, the song tells us, be dressed in lace. In the end he tries to make up for it, telling her that he loves her just the way she is. Right.
I have often mentioned that I grew up on welfare; our family didn’t have much for a number of reasons, but unlike many people who say they didn’t know they were poor, we did. We got the reduced or free lunches and milk – we used actual food stamps – we didn’t often get new clothes. We were lucky, though; we had a roof over our heads and enough to eat, which is more than many people in America have today. I was able to attend good schools in the same district for my whole life, unlike many of the children in the city I serve who move 4 or 5 times a year, just one step ahead of the legal system. America was still basking in the glow of the so-called “golden” years of the 1950’s and early 60’s, but trouble was on its way. The war on the poor was about to hit high gear.
I was also lucky that there were programs that allowed me to go to college on little or no money; now, many of those programs are gone, and low-income students get stuck with a lifetime of debt (it’s called usury) that will prohibit them from ever getting above water. Meanwhile, politicians are getting rich on crypto and corporate sponsorships, voting to benefit big money and the military while farmers go bankrupt and families become homeless. Then the victims are blamed for the systemic problems we are all dealing with daily. This is a tale as old as humanity: the prophet Amos warned the wealthy that their attainment of wealth on the backs of the poor would bring the wealthy to ruin. The book of James asks, “Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you to court?” And the Gospel of Luke tells the story of Lazarus and the nameless rich man who ends up in hell for not helping Lazarus in his poverty. Demonize and dishonor the poor at your own peril – God is watching. And God hates it when the poor are disrespected.
Prayer – Holy God, forgive us for the systems we support that keep people in poverty. Show us how to change their world so they have a fair chance to succeed. Amen.
Today’s art is “Poverty Party” by David Fredrik Moussallem.