I got a five day pass for public transportation while I'm here so I can ride the train and buses as much as I'd like for five days. It is interesting to ride the train in Chicago.
I rode today from downtown Chicago on Merchant Mart Plaza to University and 55th Street. The ride was only one transfer and then a walk to a bus. I was going to visit McCormick Theological Seminary where I'm determining whether to attend for my Doctor of Ministry degree.
The financial divide between the North Side and South Side of Chicago is visible as you ride the train. The homes decline in appearance and the people on the trains have something in common even if it isn't skin color-its what appears to be a lack of hope-or vitality. I'm sure I was projecting this onto folks-but many either out of habit of protection in a larger city or maybe just not having slept the night before sat with blank stares and seemed sad.
I tell you the neighborhood we arrived in when I got off of the train at Garfield was straight off the set of an episode of Shaft in the seventies. There was a male prostitute wearing a bright new Chicago Cubs jacket who solicited the guy walking across the road just in front of me.
There was a woman who smelled heavily of rum or some strong liquor. She stumbled up to each one of us waiting on the bus at Garfield and asked us if we could give her money for a loaf of bread. I felt so sad for her. If I hadn't been so uncertain about catching the bus on time I would have gone into a store and bought her a sandwich-but I'm pretty sure she didn't really want the bread. And she didn't appear gaunt or underfed-she probably weighed about what I do-over 250. So at least I know she isn't starving.
Then I got on the bus and made it to the campus. The staff was very friendly and I understand that Barak Obama's home is only two blocks from the campus. If I didn't think and hope that he's going to be in the White House I guess that would've been a selling point. I'm not certain that I can enroll in a D.Min. program any time soon though with my parents so far gone.
I think maybe if all of us privileged folks were made to live in Harlem in Chicago or in New York or the Tenderloin in San Franscisco etc. that we would find a way to address poverty. Better yet-congress and these corporate CEOs should be forced to spend their terms in the projects they fund in D.C. so that they can understand that government assistance is not a ticket to wealth and fame.
I am continually amazed at how many people are not just apathetic about the poor in our nation-but have palpable CONTEMPT for people living in poverty as though living on food stamps and getting a check from the government supports a lavish lifestyle. I read a bumper sticker that said something like "Work harder-people on welfare need your money". Such a complete lack of insight into the real issue of structural and cultural imbalance of wealth. Hating the poor for getting "welfare" is sort of like hating children for having to eat. Can you imagine anyone going up to a child when they're hungry and saying "Why don't you get a job and quit being lazy". Public assistance is not an indication of personality type-it may be linked in some cases-but in general the problem isn't the person receiving help from the government-its the system that creates such enormous poverty in the first place and doesn't provide a means of getting out of poverty into a financially soluble situation.
I don't mean to say that all folks who are poor are good and virtuous people and pat them on the head "Awww I feel so sorry for you poor folks. At least you've got your faith and your high standards". That's garbage.
Nor do I want to imply that those with wealth are all full of venom or virtue.
I just want to say that our system is so broken-our economic system and our social system-it's SO broken that I know only God can redeem us. It is easier for me to see when I am outside of my typical context because the differences are maginfied and multiplied. The wealthy are wealthier than ever-and the poor are poorer than ever-when you see the difference in a tangible way on a railway car over the course of three stops-it is difficult to ignore.
I pray that God gives me insight into how I might be part of the catalyst for change in Springfield where I am and in ways that go beyond my community as well. I have to start with me though-"elevate" my thinking if you will. Elevate my expectation of hope not only in my life and context-but in the lives of others by the Grace of God. It is my prayer that as Christians we can be agents of change and healing in a stagnant and wounded reality that is human existence.
God lift us up from the miry pit and place our feet on solid ground each day-every day fill us with your LOVE.
Thank you Jesus.
Amen.
Dwight
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