The idea of "being without" has been a reoccurring thought that has come to my mind several times the last two or three weeks. Not suprisingly, because of where i work, I meet people day in and day out whose lifestyle is a continual cycle of "being without". Here is one instance that demonstrates this type of lifestyle...
Last Tuesday, August 23, one of our workers reported one particular person that came to receive help that day, received their food and then shopped in the clothing room. When this person was finished collecting their clothing she began to walk outside without paying. Because of the continual masses that enter and exit the clothing room daily the workers didn't realize the person had left the clothing room until 2 or 3 minutes after the fact. Upon realizing this, the worker walked outside and spotted the person putting the clothing articles into their car. The worker confronted the individual and questioned why she hadn't paid. The individual responded saying that she was going to borrow some money from a friend upstairs so she would go get the money and then return to pay for the clothing. To make a long story short (or at least shorter, seeing as how I can't possibly write a short story) the individual went to a complete stranger inside and told them she needed gas money to go pick up kids from school. So, the person gave her "gas money" and then the individual payed for the clothes with that money. Turns out the person who loaned the money to the individual saw her paying for the clothes with the money she gave the individual to pay for the gas. Then all heck broke loose.
After things cooled down the individual came back inside to help a women carry a box of food out to her car. I decided to carry the box for the women, which gave me an opportunity to talk to the other person who had gone through what seemed to be a very long morning. I tried to explain to the individual how it wasn't about they money, the clothes, the food or the idea of being taken advantage of that bothered me. I told him/her the thing that bothered me the most was the fact that she was leaving mad/upset/angry. I told her straightforward how it was wrong (and obviously dishonest) of her to lie in order to get what she wanted. I told the individual how we wanted her to continue to come see us for any and ever need they might have. I tried to explain to the individual how we try to be more then just a food pantry or a clothing room that people come and go just to get physical things they desire. We want to be a place where you build a relationship with us so that anytime you have a need, your children have a need, you have something to celebrate or you have something to mourn about we can be a place where you can do just that. I told her we give because we have been given to.
The individual began to cry as she began to explain why she had lied about the gas money, who the clothes were for, and where she was headed to. She lied about the gas money because she had just enough money to pay for the clothes and she knew a person would be more willing to pay for gas then to pay for clothing, which seemed to be less of a necessity at the time because she informed me that she needed the gas to go pick up kids from school. She went on to explain that the clothes were for her kids and she wanted them so bad for her kids because they didn't have any back to school clothes for their first day of school. So there she was shopping in our clothing store for used clothes to get her kids some new back to school clothes. After she calmed down a little bit and listened to what I had to say she ended our conversation by saying, "If I didn't really NEED these things I wouldn't come here to get them." She explained how it was hard for her to start coming to places such as Cross and Crown and other food pantries because it was humiliating at first. But, she explained, when you really need these things to survive and you can't go without them, you do what you have to do.
The rest of the day I couldn't help but re-play this conversation I had with the lady over and over. As much as I tried, and as heartbreaking as it was to hear her story, I couldn't relate. The reason that I couldn't relate is because I have never been without. Growing up my parents/family wasn't wealthy, but we had everything we needed, we were never without. I have never been a night without eating (unless it was by my own will not to eat, probably. because it was meatloaf), in elementary and jr. high school I always had back to school clothes. I always had a cool house in the summer and a warm house in the winter. I always had a good pair of basketball shoes, never having to wear the same shoes in two consecutive seasons. I have never been without.
Interesting how the lady said she was shopping for NEW back to school clothes in a USED clothing store. That's how different her perspective is then most of us because of her lifestyle that she has come to accept.
My intentions of this blog I am unsure of, but like most of my blogs I can reassure you that there is one thing that none of us can be without, and that's Christ. No one is without when they have Jesus Christ. So, even if you do or even if don't work at an inner-city mission, a church or some religious affiliated organization know that there are definitely people who are without, in one way or another.
Dueteronomy13:4 However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, 5 if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.
