Today Ira and I volunteered at a soup kitchen for the breakfast shift 6-7:30. Usually there are, perhaps, 120 people, but today, thanksgiving week, there were one hundred and eighty-nine people. I had to over-step a psychological hurdle looking at the line. When political rhetoric established the duality of "them" and "us", I invite those politicians to join any line where food is being distributed and obseve how many people looked like me and Ira, but because of food scarcity, must get meals elsewhere. It made me weep inside, since I shudder to imagine what will happen in 2025 when the new adminstration takes over and Musk and Ramaswamy execute their plan to cut, cut, cut. There is already talk of cuts to many social networks, including CHIPS, medicaid and medicare. My friend said school lunches might be cut. What will children do who can't get fed? Feeding the stomach helps to feed the mind; the mind can't function without the necessary sustenance.
For today, my only focus is on tzedukah. My friend said the only way to transcend this "brave new world" is to do good where you can, with a few pet causes. Indeed, this will be one of mine with Ira by my side.We will feed the poor, the hungry, those people who fell off the grid--if only for a short while."The highest form of wisdom is kindness," according to the Talmud,
I invite you to be as kind as you can be, and as smart, and with compassion in your heart recognize without migrants to farm the land and without social services, that the streets will be flooded with physical and psychological hunger. When you give thanks this thanksgiving, feel free to be blessed with what you have, but remember, even those who worked hard and came here for the sake of their children, as your families once did, that there are too many people walking around who will have to snake around in long lines for the possibility of one meal to sustain them. Please bless them, too!
No comments:
Post a Comment