In this Issue:

Convention 2006

Alaska's Bishop Mc Donald, keynotes 2006 Convention

Nominees for Diocesan Offices

Resolution Alert! Due in Diocesan Office by February 3

Other Stories

Ministry of Hospitality: St. Paul's Newport

Listening: King's message spans Americas, Panama's bishop declares

Haitian institute director killed in Port-au-Prince

Trinity Institute explores 'The anatomy of reconciliation' Jan. 30-Feb. 1

Commentaries

From the Bishop: Daddy, Why can't I go to Fun Town?

Reflection: Riding a bumpy camel

X-ercizing: Advent Lessons

Meeting God in Pascagoula, Mississippi

Diocesan Calendar

Past Issues

X-ercizing: Community, Solidarity, and Humanity (Part 3)

By Steve Gosser Walton

It was sort of like Pandora’s Box. Or a loose thread on a sweater. Or better yet a dog that bites at his own backside until forced to wear one of those cones.

United Nations Expert Comes to U.S. to Examine Extreme Poverty.

Dr. Arjun Sengupta said, “There is one country where there should be no poverty…The U.S. is the richest nation in the history of the world…there are people who lack human rights in the United States, irrespective of the color, irrespective of creed, irrespective of religion…every individual has a right to live a life of dignity… it is a problem that can be solved.”

I can’t get poverty out of my mind. I can’t stop talking about extreme poverty in America. Poverty in Appalachia haunts me. It makes me mad and sad; it makes me feel bad. It makes me feel little and lonely, because I don’t know what I can do.

37 million people live in poverty in this great country.

I have crystal bar glasses I haven’t gotten around to using yet. China dishes that have never been unwrapped. I have clothes in my closets that still have the tags on them. I throw enough food away a week to feed a person for a week. Today Jessica and I bought more cooking equipment, which I brought home and put on a shelf next to gadgets, doohickeys, doodads, thingamabobs, and thingamajigs that I need.

38.2 million people, including 13.9 million children, experienced food insecurity in America.

In America, as my Mom always taught me, anything is possible.

I don’t know why I am so angry. I don’t know why those numbers upset me so much. I don’t know why I feel like no one cares. I don’t know why all of this is such a big deal to me. Maybe it is compassion.

Maybe it’s Christian responsibility. Maybe it’s guilt.

Maybe it is because I have been extremely blessed and I want to do something in return.

“I HAVE to do something.” I said to Jessica as I stood in front of the spreadsheet filled with facts and figures showing how many poor people live in my country, state, diocese, county, and town. “I have to show people we can do something if we try.”

“Can we have a symposium on Appalachian Poverty?!” I begged Jessica last week. She informed me that what I was suggesting was harder and more complicated than I thought.

I accused her of not caring about poor people.

She ignored my remark, and explained the complexity of my desires. She explained that poverty, especially Appalachian poverty, was an issue that even people who spent their careers studying it did not fully grasp.

It takes resources, she explained, to have such a conference. It takes time to put together a group of people, who have the inclination and the ability to tackle the task. The people who would come would need to be educated about Appalachia and its complexities by learned people who would have to be arranged to speak to them, there would have to be valid initiatives and programs presented for a course of action – both large scale and small.

I know “fixing” poverty is difficult. I am sure it is more difficult than I imagine. But my heart tells me that if more of us talked about it together we could come up with more ways to “fix” it together.

Jessica not only supports my desires, she encourages them. She helps channel me towards books on the subject, gives me points to consider, and helps me figure out how we can figure this out.

“We will figure this out together,” she tells me.

We know the two of us can’t personally solve the puzzle.

I didn’t know what one person could do. I don’t know what two people can do. But maybe tomorrow there will be three of us, and then maybe tomorrow four, and then maybe…

I know people care about poverty in America, and in Appalachia, and in Kentucky. I also know that just like me they don’t know what to do.

I am making it my mission to encourage other people to educate themselves, to ask questions, and to do something.

The way I view this world, is the way I act in this world.

I know the Living God is present and active in the world. I know through Christ all things are possible. I know I have an obligation to act like it.

I reflect on what I can do, and I become very overwhelmed. I have been reading and trying to educate myself on Appalachia. And by writing about poverty I hope I’m taking steps to become more active. 

Poverty is in our house. Poverty, extreme poverty, is standing in the middle of the living room. Do I choose to talk about it, and more importantly, address it, or do I ignore it?

If more of us choose to address poverty I believe that answers will be found.
Steve may be reached at xersizing@yahoo.com

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