Category Archives: Poverty

September 29, 2013 · 1:00 am

Life and Death in Philadelphia

Violence in Philadelphia has been unrelenting over the past ten years. Children as young as three are regularly killed in drive-by shootings. A few horrific incidents stand out. The rest blur together, one death as meaningless as the next.

Teenage brothers were shot to death during a home invasion. The murders, like many others, were thought to be drug related. The body of a pregnant woman with young children was found in an abandoned lot by vagrants. It had been stripped and smeared with peanut butter to attract rodents.

The horror prompts us to turn away. But that is not what Jesus would have us do. These lives are not worthless to Him, however random and pointless the deaths may seem.

“Now you shall say to this people, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death” ’ ” (Jer. 21: 8).

Lord God, our cities are devastated – the lives of the men, women, and children in them shattered by violence.

Knowing that You are the Redeemer, that it is You this world so desperately needs, we plead for those around us. We cannot bear the loss of another child, Lord. We cry out to You, for there is no other hope.

Over and over, You have set before us the way of life and the way of death. Bring repentance and revival to our nation. Turn our hearts again to You that we may choose life.

Amen

FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT: http://www.alawyersprayers.com

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September 8, 2013 · 1:00 am

In Dire Straits: Philadelphia Schools

“ ‘And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children…’ ” (Deut. 6: 6-7).

The Philadelphia School District is in dire straits.  The latest financial crisis has closed schools and stripped those remaining of nearly all personnel but teachers and principals.

A full twenty percent of the district’s employees have been laid off.  Among these are classroom aides, guidance counselors, nurses, librarians, secretaries, assistant principals, and lunchroom staff. Evidently, these were considered superfluous.  Why would inner city children need the help of a guidance counselor? What good could a librarian do children not reading at grade level?

Class size will undoubtedly increase. There has been talk of combining grades to reduce the number of teachers still further.  In the birthplace of liberty, we may be headed back to the one room schoolhouse.  That is hardly likely to improve Philadelphia’s 50% dropout rate for high school aged African American and Latino males [1].

Charities and corporate donors are actually being approached to support the school system. Without their help, tutoring and afterschool programs once underwritten by government will simply vanish.

Philadelphia and impoverished cities like it are on the forefront of the battle for the future of this nation. We cannot produce informed citizens, capable of facing fresh challenges, if we do not provide our children – all our children – a quality education.

Those who drop out or graduate without a basic knowledge of history, literature, science, and the arts will all too soon find themselves unemployed and unemployable. We have no right to destine those young people to failure.  It is the sacred obligation of one generation to educate the next.

The nation cannot afford to lose those young minds, and what they might create.  Nor can it withstand the drain on resources of an ever growing underclass [2].  If nothing is done, we may all someday find ourselves in dire straits.

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1 The African American and Latino Male Dropout Taskforce Report (September 2, 2010), http://www.wideningthecircle.org/files/TaskforceReport090110.pdf .

2 Violence must be part of that calculus.  Crime may seem a tolerable evil to those at a distance from it.  Not so to those whose lives are daily impacted.

FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT: http://www.alawyersprayers.com

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April 21, 2013 · 7:07 pm

Even Solomon

New Jersey police recently found two children, aged 5 and 10, living in an unheated storage unit. The situation came to light when the boys’ mother was arrested for allegedly slashing her boyfriend’s tires.

How are those of us concerned with the welfare of children to respond?  If these children are placed into the foster system, we cannot be sure of the quality of care they will receive.  Clearly, their mother would benefit from counseling – not to mention employment training.  And what of their father?  Does he bear no responsibility?

Social workers wrestle with such imponderables daily.  Solomon would be at a loss to supply an answer. All the rest of can do is support programs that benefit abused and neglected children, in the hope one life may be salvaged at a time.

FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT:  http://www.alawyersprayers.com

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September 17, 2012 · 6:54 pm

A New Pope

Hopes are high for Pope Francis and his impact on the Catholic Church.

While the new pope’s agenda should include additional measures to root out, redress, and report sexual misconduct by priests, that agenda should focus, also, on the poor.  The gap between rich and poor grows ever wider.

We may mistakenly measure the value of life by wealth, power or fame.  We may be impressed by zip code or square footage.  But to God all life is priceless.

FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT:  http://www.alawyersprayers.com

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February 7, 2012 · 1:00 am

Long Odds

There are 48 Catholic schools in Philadelphia expected to shut their doors by September. Now area public schools will be closing their buildings nights and weekends, dealing a fatal blow to after school athletic programs.

The decisions impact thousands of kids – kids who will lose the chance to learn in a safe environment, to learn fair play and positive values, to learn at all. Class sizes will rise, both in public and parochial school.

Already staggering under their load, parents will try to make up for the loss. But there really are no options. And kids who spend the summer on the streets will not be the same in September. The odds against them will grow longer.

Fewer than half of the young men of color in Philadelphia high schools graduate now.

FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT:  http://www.alawyersprayers.com

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January 24, 2012 · 1:00 am

Kindergarten

West Philadelphia residents recently camped out in the January cold, in hopes of assuring their kindergartners admission to a public elementary school. Granted, this particular school has had better than average results.

Devoted parents everywhere can understand the motivation of these mothers and fathers. The real question is why such an extreme step was necessary. Why in the United States of America, in this land of milk and honey, a good education is not the right of every child.

Are the children at the back of the line less deserving or those whose parents were unable to participate at all? Perhaps we should come right out and institute a trial by fire, a sort of educational Olympics. There is already a lottery in place for charter school slots.

Until we value every child, regardless of economic status, this nation will be the loser.

FOR MORE OF MY ARTICLES ON POVERTY, POLITICS, AND MATTERS OF CONSCIENCE CHECK OUT MY BLOG A LAWYER’S PRAYERS AT:  http://www.alawyersprayers.com

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