How many people really know what it means to be poor? No, not unable to buy your fancy clothes this year, or that second car. Really poor? So poor you have to eat at someone else’s house so you don’t starve, so poor you borrow more money then you’ll ever pay back, can’t even afford simple necessities like shampoo and wear your clothes far beyond their time. Do you know this? Or do you run out of premium coffee and think the world is going to end? I’m not guilt tripping you, but think about it. Do you have any idea what it means to be poor?

Have you ever had to heat water on the stove to take a bath? Not only that, you then had to share that water with your siblings? So hungry, with no food, you eat condiments? You don’t just skip meals, you go days without eating. Do you ever go weeks without food just so your children can eat? My mom did, and she would have, and still would, die if she had to to keep us alive. Do you know poor? Really?

When you hear about those lazy poor people on TV, boycotting unfair wages, not doing their job like their supposed to, you get angry don’t you? You complain about the line outside the welfare office, cringe when you see someone using an EBT (food stamps) card at the check out and complain about “the expensive food they are buying.” To think, they want to eat something other than Roman Noodles! The horror! To think they are eating on your tax dollars! I could have a heart attack!

And while you complain about your full time job with health care benefits and paid vacation time, that poor man sits at home and does nothing. He searches everyday, for any job, no matter how demeaning, but nothing comes up. He chooses this life right? Yeah, he chooses to live off less a month than you do a day. The elite think that people can rise above this life simply by doing something about it. Like they haven’t tried everything in their power to get out of the rut. Foolish people, try harder!

I have dreams like everyone else. I have a passion for writing, I have been trying to make a living as a graphic designer, and nothing has worked. I’m trying, as hard as humanly possible. With little education, I went from a novice writer to an intermediate one over time. I still make errors, I’m sure any person with a college education could dismantle my articles and point out a million grammatical errors. Yet I continue on, try to do my best, and guess what? Nothing has come out of this.

Speaking with folks on the right you would think the key to success is doing. That’s right, just do and it will come to pass! How convenient for them. They are obviously successful so everyone else around them should be too. I wish that’s how it worked. I would love to catch some success from you millionaires out there. Not going to happen. The sad reality is that the American dream, the rags to riches story, no longer exists. The only dream for me is being able to feed my family. And guess what, if that means using food stamps I will do it, and I won’t care how dirty the looks you are giving me are.

My fellow Christians that call themselves conservatives better pick up the bible and learn a little bit about that Christ fellow they supposedly follow. I guarantee if he were here today he’d be labeled a liberal, a hippie, a tree hugger. He wants you to take care of the poor, the sick, and–GASP–pay your taxes! He would revolt against our capitalist system and tell the rich, as he did in the book of Matthew, chapter 19, verse 24, that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Why did he say that? Does God hate money? No, because the bible also says that “the love of money is the root of all evil.” It corrupts, it makes men greedy and stingy. It makes them sour and very unChristlike. Jesus dealt with a rich man in the book of Mark. The young man wanted to know how to inherit eternal life. Jesus looked at him lovingly and said “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” The young man was distraught for he was very rich, he wanted eternal life but not at that price! Jesus followed up by saying “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

How hard it is. How hard it is for the religious right to stand up and claim themselves as the true Christian voters. Maybe they are Christians, maybe that is who they claim to follow, but they are so unlike Christ. They say they are pro-life but cheer at a convict’s sentencing to death row. Call themselves followers of Christ but spit on the poor, prop up the wealthy and condemn the sick. This is not right! As a Christian, as someone who wants to be like Christ, this does not add up!

So I ask you, do you know what it means to be poor? If not, what are you doing to help those that are poor? If you have great wealth, congratulations, now do something good with it. Enjoy yourself, but please, find a way to give back. It is the right thing to do. It may be a key component to the Christian faith but people of separate faiths, or no faith, know right from wrong and understand some people need help. Not everyone can become rich by doing. We can all make our own American dream and help others find theirs too.

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