“I feel sorry about the old lady downstairs,” PJ said in Filipino while catching his breath. “I saw her in front of the bank. She couldn’t cross the street because she was walking too slow. So I held his hand and we crossed together. She showed me her P2.50 asking me to hand her some money to cover her fare to Proj. 8. She also showed me a solicitation letter for her medicines worth P250. But what can I do, I just said that I also don’t have enough.”
His encounter with that old woman reminded me of the families I often encounter as I pass the waiting shed in front of Sto. Domingo Church. They sleep along the road. They cook and eat there. Worse, one of the men, probably the father inhales rugby and just let his children eat some food they were able to get somewhere. I always pray for them. Ask God for His mercy toward such people. But what could my prayers do? Yes, perhaps God hears me every time, no questions for that. But will my prayers reach them? Will my prayers able to feed the starving children? Will my prayers give them decent abode?
In this time of election campaign, I am sure that many politicians out there will promise to help eradicate poverty and improve the living condition of people. What could the politicians do? Will their promises reach them? Will their promises change the live of those people when they got their positions?
There will always be poor in the land. This is what I learned from reading the Bible.
We have always complain of poverty; that the poor occupies the larger bottom part of the society pyramid and own the least of the resources. But what if there were no poor? Could you ever imagine a land overflowing with richness. Everyone have enough to sustain life, that no one worries where to get food or clothing for the following day, or where to stay during the night.
However, more than the economic classes that classify people according to their incomes, the society also has its unwritten standards in it comes to being poor or rich.
Poor people are like Mang Carding who sell bottled water in the streets of Manila; the family of Tata Juan who built their house beside the train railway; the two teenagers pushing a cart of thrash; Boknoy who begs for money inside a jeepney after polishing the passengers’ shoes; Aling Nida who sweeps the streets of Quezon City under the heat of the sun; Mang Goryo and his three sons farming and toiling in the land but harvest none but a hundred peso a day; the manong drayber who drives the whole day then renders back the jeepney to the owner at the end of the day; Tiya Naning who left his children and went to Taiwan to nanny other people’s children just to send money home; Lija who stopped schooling so she can help her mother in the market; Allan who sells taho in the morning and go to school in the afternoon until the evening; and the list goes on.
Could you imagine life without them? Many values and essentials would fade without poverty.
Richness is so appreciated because we can see, smell, touch, hear and taste poverty. We work so hard to earn a living because we do not want to become poor. We care and protect our belongings because we do not want to lose them and wander in the streets. We learn the act of mission and outreach because we know that poor people need resources. We value life because many people die because of poverty. We strive to finish our education because we believe that it is the easiest way out from poverty.
What if there were no poor people living today? Who will sell bottled water, biscuits and candies in the streets to feed weary motorists? Who will collect the trash from our junkyards? Who will sweep the streets and keep our small garbages away? Who will nanny the rich children? Who will work in the farm of the rich hacienderos? Who will sell fish in the market? Who will walk to your doorstep just to hand you your favorite taho?
But poor people need not do all those things as few people up in the corporate ladder and economic richness enjoy luxury and privilege. They need not work for a day for a hundred-peso wage and die leaving not even a roof for their children. And we, people more fortunate than they are, need not rejoice as many of them die from famine.
Poverty has already been a great, if not the greatest, problem in our society. It has already evolved, mutated, and established a long chain of reactions; and perhaps I don’t need to discuss all about these reactions here. Just read or watch the news everyday and you can see it all there.
How many times did you here people saying “let us help the poor”, “let us eradicate poverty in the land?” Or have said that yourself? We know what we should do but isn’t it that it’s already becoming more difficult to practice what we preach? Difficult because we are already looking to far and occupied in gaining more richness that we forget those people we see everyday.
One Sunday afternoon, while my friends and I was eating in a fast food at North EDSA, a woman approached us. She was carrying her son in her arms and her daughter was beside her. She was asking for small amount of money; according to her, to buy food. There were seven-peso coins and a twenty peso bill on our table; but my friend’s initial reaction was “we’re only students,” as we really were. The woman begged again but we ignored her pretending that we did not hear her while we continued our chit-chats and food. When she noticed that we were not going to give her any, she transferred to the table next to us and repeated her dialogue asking for money.
After a while, we realized what we have just done to the woman. We actually refused to help her and her children. But then we had our arguments: Helping the poor does not only mean giving them some amount of money now. Besides, it should be done in proper ways or in proper institutions. Giving a small amount of money would not actually help them; it might help but not in the long run. Tomorrow, for sure they will again beg for more thus tolerating them not to look for other alternatives other than begging and asking their resources from other people. On the other hand, we don’t even know how sincere or how needy they are.
But why people like them remain in the corners of the society?
Oh, blame it to the government that doesn’t have more concrete program for poverty eradication than feeding programs and relief operations. Blame it to the politicians whose promises flew in the air. Blame it to the church that kneels and prays for the poor but can’t even shelter those living in front of the church gates. Blame it to God who can’t make magic to turn everyone rich. Blame it… blame it… Feeling exhausted? Look at the mirror and point at ourselves.
As much as we all want to eradicate poverty, I think we can not until we could not recognize and appreciate the presence of it in the society. We could never (somehow) equalize resources and wealth if we could not empathize with the needs of the people who are living below our economic status. We could not stop the blaming game if we could not learn to see, feel, taste, smell and hear the people we fear to become.
“There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be open handed toward your brothers and toward the poor and the needy in your land.” —Deuteronomy 15:11
so haba, napadaan lang pi
I was reared by grandparents on $600USD a month. Until I got to school, I did not know I was poor. They made sure to clear things up for me. I went from being a happy child to feeling less than others.
Until I got to the Philippines, I did not know I was rich. My eyes made sure to clear things up for me. I went from feeling bad about being ‘just middle class’ to a better understanding of my relative place in the world.
There was a little boy who held an umbrella for me to enter a cab in the rain. He only wanted a tip. My girl reached across and closed the door and said if i wanted to help I should give to the organizations that help. Whatever. Two years later his hungry face is still in my heart. I should have helped him.
Later in my trip I found myself stepping over hundreds of families in a square. They lived there on the sidewalk! I saw a fellow who had his arm slung over his toolbelt. His woman had her arm slung over him and there were several kids huddled up to her.
I found myself jealous.
Why? Because I have never seen that level of marital and family loyalty in my own people, who get divorced over not being able to agree on who would cook.
There may be rich people in the Philippines, but from what I saw there and compared to America, there are very, very few poor people in America. Even the poorest amongst Americans have washing machines, dishwashers and automobiles.
I believe that I am obligated to help the person in front of me, not remake society into something where everybody is guaranteed the same outcome. Like Ghandi asked…what actions do I need to take that will benefit the poor person in front of me the most…right now.
The more people try to use the government to guarantee equal distribution of wealth, the more wealth you will drive into the hands of those who throw the switches of government control and out of the hands of the people.
Marx is most likely in hell. Even if he is forgiven and managed to make it to some level of Heaven I am sure he spends most of his time on his knees, eaten by his own conscience.