Hunger: Who Is Responsible?

There are millions of children who go hungry in our society. There are over a billion around the world. Who should make sure they are fed?

Many want government out of the equation. Multiple voices cry, “Go get a job!” Many churches join the chorus quoting Paul, “Let him who does not work not eat!” Some pass laws and ordinances to make it harder for people to feed the hungry and homeless, claiming they are encouraging industry and initiative to care for one's own needs. Others blame parents addicted to drugs. Still others replay attitudes of Ebeneezer Scrooge, “Are there no work houses? Are there no prisons? … Let them decrease the surplus population!”

Most of these voices ignore the difficulties and barriers to opportunity that our society at large presents to our lower economic classes. We forget that few will hire anyone with a criminal record and then feel justified in doing so. We ignore that a minimum wage job does not cover rent and food. We claim that minimum wage jobs are not designed for adults, ignoring that minimum wage and part time employment is the only option for vast numbers. We overlook medical conditions that make it difficult at best for people to hold down a job. We sidestep the hoops one must jump through to get an address in order to get required documentation, education, or a job. One the other hand, we push beyond the fact that the majority of our poor and underfed are children with no recourse to a job, anyway.

It is too easy to brush off an issue outside our own life circumstances. I don't know what it means to be homeless beyond speaking to people who have been homeless and taking some of them into my home over the years. I hear of the struggles, but I have never tried to get a job without an address. I have not had to fill out computer forms without access to transportation and a library computer. I have not had to interview without access to shower facilities. I have not had to find access to medication that would allow me to work when I have no savings or income. I have not needed to store my possessions in the bushes while getting food or seeking a job. I have not experienced hunger that will not allow me to focus on a teacher's instructions. I have not battled the demons of addiction cravings that interfere with being able to wait two to four weeks for a paycheck. I have not had to turn down a job that required me to “put some skin in the game” prior to employment.

There is a reason Jesus makes the issues of poverty and hunger much simpler than we are wont to make them. The barriers to “getting on our feet” in our society are man-made barriers. They are obstacles we create for the convenience of social structures and employers without considering the needs of the poor around us.

In South Carolina, I witnessed peach farmers enslaving immigrant workers in all but name for the convenience and profit of the farming enterprise. In Virginia it was sawmills and tobacco farms. In Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina recovery, it was construction companies abusing their work crews for profit. In North Carolina, it was police taking the belongings of the homeless and throwing them in prison for daring to sleep in public areas.

If you are struggling to survive minus a leg, the police throw away your crutches, and they send your dog to the pound, how are you supposed to save enough money for downpayment on a place to rent so that you can then get a job to feed and care for yourself within socially acceptable patterns?

No, instead of worrying about making sure that the poor meet certain standards of wealth to be seen in our midst, Jesus had other concerns. He simply told us to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, give water to the thirsty, heal the sick, and visit the imprisoned. He placed this burden on the backs of the faithful. On the other hand, it was already embedded in Jewish law from the time of Moses that God's provision and abundance was supposed to flow through the nation such that poverty should never have existed in the first place!

Biblically, when we get to the point that people around us are hungry, we have already failed the gospel. We failed it when we retained a worker's pay for a day worked. We failed it when we fenced in our fields to keep out those who would glean enough produce to assuage their hunger. We failed it when we allowed the “job creators” to amass wealth for themselves while overlooking the plight of the poor, refugees, and immigrants all around them. We failed it when we allowed our town councils to pass laws against the homeless being visible. We failed it when we allowed the creation of an underclass dependent upon survival wages in order to increase our own comfort and power.

Who is responsible for creating the conditions of hunger? We are. We all are.

We are responsible when we purchase products made by slave labor. We are responsible when we support businesses who routinely steal earned overtime wages from their employees. We are responsible when we allow others to force mom-and-pop enterprises out of business. We are responsible when we allow government policies to lower standards for school lunches and humiliate children who cannot afford what is presented to them. We are responsible, because we are called to care for our neighbors, regardless of the color of their skin, their ZIP code, or where they get their clothing. We are responsible when we make dumpster diving a crime, but won't even share our cast-offs with others.

Complaining about whose job it is to care for the poor, sick, disabled, and vulnerable is really just shirking our responsibility. If I don't pick up the mantle, who will? If I claim it is not the role of government, regardless of what the prophets declared repeatedly, am I ready to shoulder the burden Jesus gave to us all? In the US alone, that would mean over $100 Billion just this year.

The job is ours. It belongs to all of us, church, government, and individual alike. It's time to set aside the rhetoric and get the job done, now. Otherwise, our words are just the hot air of indifference and smug irresponsibility.

—©Copyright 2017 Christopher B. Harbin

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