April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
EDITORIALS

Pain seen and unseen; Voices that will not be silent

Editorials



Pain seen and unseen 

The Great Recession has provoked among many of us the cozy and egalitarian austerity of eliminating frivolous items, cutting back on treats and shopping frugally. 

Discomfort is muted by a sense that we are all in this together. While it may sting to tell your child the school trip is no longer affordable, one probably knows other families taking the same course.

Of course, many people have suffered real pain: the loss of a job and loss of self-worth that comes with paid employment; hunger, eviction or untreated illness; and the awful loneliness of deprivation in a wealthy society. As Jesus advised us, the poor are still and always with us. We may have joined their ranks.

People at the economic bottom have not drawn the headlines. But they went into the recession poor and, most likely, are worse off now. 

Despite our own losses we must attend to those in greater need. We do so personally by giving or lending money, stocking and staffing parish pantries and soup kitchens, and by performing all the acts of mercy beckoned from us by love and the needs of our neighbors near and far. 

Love requires prudence. Often in our urge to "do something big" we neglect the small intimate acts that may help most. Invite a person down on their luck to dinner, offer them some work or drop off a meal. Acknowledge their situation and encourage their hopes and efforts. "I know, I've been there," are welcome words to hear when we are set back on our heels. 

On a broader scale, we must continue to demand that government bailouts and stimulus spending be geared to society as a whole and particularly people at the economic bottom. This recession has revealed the myth of absolute material security - no one is invulnerable. Do now unto others as you would be done unto. 

To better know our common plight and situation, The Evangelist invites Catholics to share their story of coping with the recession while guided by their faith and values. We seek a variety of people: single, married or families; young and old; and from poor to rich, who are willing to be interviewed and photographed. Your story can help and inspire others. 

If interested, please call or send an email to Adam Rossi, (518) 453-6688 or [email protected].

 Voices that will not be silent

From afar, we can only be inspired by the march of Iranians to demand free and fair elections. To see hundreds of thousands risking liberty and livelihood to march in protest and for a voice lifts our spirits. (It also chastens us who have seen, in the State Legislature, how easily a democracy can subvert itself.) Without meddling, we, and all nations, must insist that the Iranian regime refrain from violence and repression.

Writing anonymously in the New York Times, an Iranian student expressed the nation's amazement at their renewed democratic awakening. 

"Everyone watched everyone else and we wondered how all of this could be happening. Who were all of these people? Where did they come from? These were the same people we pass by unknowingly every day. We saw one another, it feels, for the first time."

That's the experience of realizing our God-given freedom and dignity. Sometimes we feel it all at once, as during a political liberation, other times in small doses. But each time we are like Adam and Eve stepping into a new creation.
(06/18/09) [[In-content Ad]]

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