Remember the poor
Times are difficult for the average person here in Canada. One indication of this Ingrid and I have noticed as we drive around is the number of cars we see that have a non-working headlight or brakelight. It seems people are trying to reduce their spending by not getting their cars serviced. This is not a good idea -- cars need to be maintained properly, and driving without working lights endangers both yourself and others. But with stubbornly high food inflation, rising housing and insurance costs, and wages not keeping pace, people are having to make hard choices about where they should allocate their money.
Times are even harder for the poor in our society. While their are many kinds of poverty, and many reasons people may be poor, the ones the Lord has especially laid on our hearts are the poor elderly that live among us. For example, yesterday we did our weekly grocery shopping. Our first stop was Safeway, a chain of grocery stores here in Canada. As I walked around to get some items we needed, I quickly noticed some elderly people who looked like they were struggling to make ends meet. The old man who bought only a single litre of milk. The sad-looking elderly couple who slowly pushed their shopping cart through each and every aisle looking at items but not putting anything in their cart. I also noticed that the store had far more comfort food (chips, popcorn, candy, chocolate) on display than it had fresh fruit and vegetables in the produce section. That's another sign of how times are hard for people, prioritizing snacks that have low nutritional value (and high profit margins for the store) over healthy but expensive fresh foodstuffs.
While the official rate of inflation here in Canada has now declined to just over 2 percent, the reality is that the cost of basic necessities (food, clothing, transportation and housing) for many people has risen by a huge amount over the last few years. This has impacted elderly people living on a fixed income, especially those who depend mostly upon the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS) since those government payments have not increased nearly as much as the cost of living.
It's an old story, isn't it, of governments and news media making misleading statements and promises about the real state of the economy. For example, our Prime Minister here in Canada during the 1970s, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was a popular and charismatic figure during a time of revolutionary idealism. But in a news clipping from the 1970 Christmas Eve edition of the Winnipeg Tribune newspaper, Prime Minister Trudeau was quoted as saying that "Inflation no longer exists in Canada" and was reported to have also said that "the fight against inflation has been won" and "the government's anti-inflation performance was unequalled in any country in the Western world."
Unfortunately, inflation rose rapidly over the next couple of years, reaching 11 percent in 1974 and then peaking even higher at 12 percent in 1981. The result was that the whole decade of the 70s was a "lost decade" for many Canadians, and especially for the working poor. Those who had money got richer because they could invest at high interest rates. But those who just had enough to live found their dollar stretched more and more as the decade went on.
Truly the Psalmist was right when he said:
Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God. (Psalm 146:3-5)
What shall we do?
As followers of Jesus, how should we walk in these difficult economic times? First, we should ask God to help us see the poor, to notice and be aware of them. As Paul said when he and Barnabus met with the other apostles in Jerusalem:
All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along. (Galatians 2:10)
And second, we should try to be like Jesus and do good to the people God brings across our path:
You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
One practical way in which Ingrid and I try to "go around doing good" during these present hard times is to buy Safeway gift cards that can be used to pay for groceries when shopping at Safeway stores. This way when we're doing our grocery shopping and we see an elderly person who seems to be struggling to make ends meet, we can offer them a gift card to help them pay for their groceries. Whenever we've done this they usually accept with astonishment and gratitude.
Great idea, isn't it? Now go and do likewise :-)
Cheers,
Mitch
P.S. Have a (not too) Merry Christmas and a (safe and) happy New Year!
