Why don’t we do more
to help those in need?

Speaking of Religion
The Rev. Dr. Tim Griffin

Where you live should not decide
Whether you live or whether you die.
Crumbs From Your Table — U2

The lyrics above speak to the situation confronting the world today. Of course it is really not a new situation. The world has always had its poorer and wealthier regions, these distinctions being the result of whether where one lives has a favorable climate for agriculture, natural resources for development and export, a technological infrastructure adequate to sustain an economy, etc.
There are numerous factors that contribute to these differences. Still, none of the factors enumerated concern what those living in the poorer parts of the world deserve. Most of us would agree with Bono (the songwriter) that where one lives should be irrelevant to the quality of one’s life, let alone one’s prospects for survival. And yet, the case is otherwise. Where one lives is of great importance in determining one’s prospects for life. Shouldn’t things be different?
But perhaps this is not the right question to ask. Perhaps the right question is not "Shouldn’t things be different?" Instead maybe we should be asking the question "Why should I (we) care about what happens to people in other parts of the world — or even the poor in our part of the world?" "Why should it matter to me?"
Asking these questions would seem to let those of us living in relative ease off the hook, particularly if we are able to conclude that it need not matter to us. I have my share, so why should I concern myself about those others? That is their problem. Thanks be to God, I have been spared their plight.
However, I suspect that most will agree with me that this way of framing the question is inappropriate and callous. Even though we may do relatively little, either as individuals or as a nation, to ease the undeserved suffering of those around the world or even in our own nation, we do care about their plight, and we believe we should care about it.
But if we should care — and if we refuse to seek to excuse ourselves by saying "That’s their problem" — then perhaps we should be doing more.
Our rejection of callous disregard for others underscores the truth of our religious traditions. These traditions uniformly teach us that we are all related to one another.
In theistic traditions, the unity of humanity is said to be owed to the fact that we are all created in the image of God. That being the case, we are all children of God and brothers and sisters to one another.
More than that, we are also all manifestations of God to and for one another. Therefore, when one of our sisters or brothers is hungry, God is hungry, and when one of us helps another, God is helping that other.
By the same token, when I ignore another’s hunger and turn my back upon their plight, I am turning my back on God, both as God is manifest in the face of the other and as God is manifest in the deepest recesses of my self, where my God-given compassion is to be found.
So what is to be done?
We can begin by being mindful of our wealth and of the ways in which we use it. Is it possible for me to contribute to the welfare of others to relieve their suffering?
In addition to this, we can strive to make our elected officials more sensitive to the needs of the poor and the marginalized — around the world and right here in our own nation.
Imagine the positive differences we could make as a nation — not to mention the global goodwill would be created for this nation — if we were to invest even half of the cost of the Iraq war to ending poverty worldwide. The idea staggers the imagination.
No one deserves to live in poverty and to struggle for their survival. It is not God’s will that this should happen. Can we begin to work now to be God’s hearts and hands in this world? ••
Father Tim Griffin is priest-in-charge at the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, at 1946 Welsh Road in Bustleton.