blessed are the poor...

I attended a play in Minneapolis the other night. On my way home, I decided to stop for gas because I had a 20 cent coupon and a local chain was doubling competitors' coupons that day. The coupon I had would be worth over $4 because I needed at least 10 gallons.

I tried to pump the gas without using my credit card at the pump, thinking I'd have to go in and pay to use the coupon. It didn't work. I went in and asked how I could use the coupon. The clerk told me the reason I couldn't pay after I pumped the gas was because they had a lot of people driving off without paying for their gas and she seemed surprised I wanted to fill up my tank. (I surmised people came in with a few dollars cash and got small amounts of gas.) She said she didn't know how to help me. I told her it was okay, that I'd just go to the one in my neighborhood.

When I got to the station near my home, I realized gas was 9 cents cheaper. I was also, as I always am, able to pump gas and then go into the store and pay for it, using my coupon. Not only did I save $4, I also saved 90 cents. For a moment, I was relieved to be back in my neck of the woods.

Now, one would think I'd be thrilled by this turn of events. However, I started thinking. The first station was in a very poor part of town. The station near me is in the 'burbs. I wondered. Why would poor people have to pay more for their gas than those of us who have much more means? It took me back to working at the pregnancy center, which is in an extremely poor part of town. It always bothered me to see such discrepancies when I'd do clients' budgets with them. For example, generally, they did not own washers and dryers so they'd end up spending lots of money to do laundry. I always thought about how blessed I was to be able to afford a washer and dryer. When I was raising my four kids, I usually did two loads a day. That's twelve to fourteen loads a week. Twelve times $3 is $36 a week, over $140 a month, for my clients. When they only received $420 a month from welfare, that amount was impossible. When I consider the cost of electricity and water for doing my laundry, it cost little more than a fraction of that. Then, there's rent. Some clients were being charged an exorbitant amount for rent. I figured out one day that, for me, with tax deductions, the net price I pay for my mortgage is a fraction of what they pay and I have a whole house with a big yard attached.

Why do the poor have to suffer for being poor in these ways? Why can't they be given a break? I think that's why I stayed so long at the pregnancy center. I always wanted to try to help, even though what I had to offer was only a drop in the bucket of what they really needed. And, I couldn't help everyone.

I think, from now on, I'm going to follow Archbishop Flynn's example and give a little money as I wait at a red light to the person on the corner with his pitiful sign declaring he's homeless. I've always been cynical about people like that but maybe, just maybe, they really DO need our help. And, the next time I'm at a gas station in the inner city, I'll pray for the people who live in that neighborhood as I pump my gas.

Matthew 25:36-40:

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.'Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.'"