Rarely have I seen those same ministries show the adults whose lives are whittled away by physical need. Poverty deepens in its visual impact when you witness adults struggling to feed their families and keep them sheltered. Poverty aches when you watch a grown, healthy man search for employment or try to build a small business just to feed his kids. This is the real face of poverty: The distress of an entire family.
If we are serious about combating poverty, then our approaches must rise above just shoving a few bucks in a can for a homeless person or sponsoring a child overseas but never connecting with the youngster's family. Perhaps a more effective way to crush poverty is reaching out to people with a multi-generational approach. And we shouldn't just share our money, we need to give of our mind-wealth. By mind-wealth I mean skills, resources, compassion, creativity, experience, and wisdom.
Americans are generous, but the nation's current economic pain may help some of us finally grasp why global anti-poverty efforts must reach the whole family and include the vast resources of our collective creativity. Every day on national and local television, Americans can see how it's not just the kids who need care in America's urban, suburban, and rural areas. Their parents, adult guardians and relatives need to be empowered. These adults need housing relief, jobs, incomes that grow instead of shrink, medical insurance that actually covers what they pay for, affordable education for their children, and access to work with their employers and local governments to improve the plight of their communities.
If you are so blessed and so wise to have survived this financial meltdown, share your mind-wealth, don't hoard it. Do the same in conjunction with anti-poverty efforts overseas. Offer to assist the poor as they pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. Offer technology that has benefited your life and can benefit theirs. Be humble to set aside your social agendas and let those facing hardship develop their own. That's what I heard today when I listened to a segment on Blog ActionDay hosted by Easton Ellsworth on BlogTalk Radio, and what I read on one of my favorite blogs, Skelliewag.org. Skellie wrote a great piece about"30 Ways to Battle Poverty with Technology."
When I use the term mind-wealth, don't think that I worship the human mind. However, I have learned that a mind infused with God's ideas can be a compassionate instrument to accomplish great things. That's the message ministries should send when soliciting support for anti-hunger programs. Real people are hungry and dying every day. Yes. Whole families are being destroyed because of it. Yes and yes. But impoverished imagination and selfish ambition guarantee that the fierce enemy of poverty will win the war.
Judy Howard Ellis
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