Ever since I started pondering on what exactly are the rights of the poor, I have asked many different people what these would be, and how would these rights look. As you can well imagine, the responses were quite varied as were the passions accompanying the choices.
Before I list some of the responses, we need to properly define poor. In my Webster dictionary I read as follows: destitute of riches, not having property sufficient for a comfortable subsistence, needy or having little value or importance. The dictionary goes on for quite a while, but for this dissertation, this is enough.
As I started this piece I was going to exclude those who fall into this one particular category of poor because they have chosen to be there by virtue of laziness or addictions, but I soon realized most often they made these choices because of one or more of the above conditions, so they have to be included.
Surprisingly, no one responded with the first definition dealing with lack of riches which I found very interesting, and I will deal with that later.
In fact, the most frequent response had nothing to do with wealth rather that spot went to dignity. After dignity came all the others like food, shelter, clothing and justice.
So, this is how I see the definitions and suggestions made coming together. First is dignity. Almost all who fit into the definitions supplied, feel a loss of dignity from the rest of society. Their opinions don’t count; they feel not listened to. Courts often discount their testimony as unreliable. Store clerks will either not pay much attention to them or they will follow them around the store to prevent suspected theft. Even agencies set up to help them often show a level of disrespect and treat them with disdain.
In some cases, there definitely are those that need to be followed around a store, and there are those with an attitude the size of Manhattan, but by and large, the numbers of these are small. Even then, they cause enough mayhem that others get painted with the same brush and so the loss of dignity becomes real.
Next is the definition that says ‘not having property sufficient for a comfortable subsistence’. Notice that they use the word subsistence and not existence. Although they mean roughly the same, subsistence implies a stagnant or a lesser life, while existence implies room for growth. Having said that, in many cases, they have no property at all, just a pack on their back.
Food and clothing is often supplied by soup kitchens, food banks and goodwill stores. There are still those who come to the kitchen humbled and really not wanting to be there. We have also found that attitudes are often used to cover feelings of inadequacy and shame and so we do not place too high a value on these expressions; only when they go beyond the pale do we take a position.
Many of our clients are needy folk, but not always for finances; they have learned to live on next to nothing, rather their needs are more for caring, to be let known that they have value and are an important part of society, regardless of their life station.
You see, the one definition is, ‘having little or no value’, and sadly, society as a whole has a strong tendency toward that description of poor. It does not take too long for people so identified to feel the effects of being of lesser value. So now that I’ve spelled out all of our failings, what are some of the responses we can and should make or at the very least work towards?
One of the statements that I have been taught almost from birth is, ‘you will always have the poor with you’. Trouble is, many use that as an excuse for inactivity and withholding any assistance at all. But thank God, the opposite is also true; many use that statement as a motivation to help.
One of the main efforts and thrusts to mitigate the effects of poverty is to find housing for all. An established and proven fact is that as a direct result of Housing First, such as the Buffalo, there is a sharp drop in harmful addictions and street abuse.
That alone makes a huge difference to these people. They are people before they are a life station and should to the very best of our ability be treated that way regardless of the label put on them, i.e.: alcoholic. It has led me to understand something that I didn’t think about too much before, although it always has been a part of my life. The most sought after and desired attribute in all of life is the choice that most people made at the beginning of this study; DIGNITY.
Dignity belongs to life not death; furthermore, it is ours to give!
Chris Salomons is kitchen co-ordinator for Potter’s Hands ministry in Red Deer.