Comments on: Is More for Me, Less for We? A Look at Poverty, by America

By: nylse

nylse — Mon, 15 May 2023 20:10:16 +0000

His father is a pastor, so there’s also a spiritual and Christian component to his work though he never explicitly says so. Random House did an interview with himself and Esau Mcaulley, which I really enjoyed and I learned of his background.
Esau Mcaulley is priest who grew up poor, so he lived the experiences Matthew writes about. In that interview they discussed a faith-informed approach to fighting poverty and what people can do on an individual and structural level to enact change, asking questions such as:

What particular power do communities of faith have to address poverty?
What are ways that faith communities have successfully addressed poverty in the past, and where have they faced shortcomings?
How is a person of faith uniquely accountable to this issue?
What are some tangible opportunities for faith communities to be a part of progress on the issue of poverty in the near term?

You should also read his other book Evicted.
When a book moves you to become a poverty abolitionist, it’s a good book.

By: Linda Stoll

Linda Stoll — Mon, 15 May 2023 01:40:37 +0000

this is enlightening and helpful, Lisa. if ever we needed to put ourselves in others’ shoes it’d be these days. maybe we’d become more empathetic, kinder, and far less judgmental.

thanks for taking us down this path, friend.

By: Lynn D. Morrissey

Lynn D. Morrissey — Fri, 12 May 2023 20:17:38 +0000

Really thought-provoking, Lisa. And what disturbs me is the mindset that the poor are lazy bums who want handouts w/o working for them. There are many reasons people do not work. And what is interesting to me too is that people I know complain about “welfare,” and yet, when it comes to help for *their* family or for themselves in terms of Medicare, as an example, they are all too eager to apply! That is not a consistent attitude. Jesus said the poor are always with us, but that hardly means He implied a nonchalant, laissez-faire attitude towards them. How can we help? He calls us to.
xo
Lynn

By: Michele Morin

Michele Morin — Fri, 12 May 2023 11:41:50 +0000

Poverty here in Maine is our biggest diversity challenge. We fracture along economic lines just as surely as other states fracture over race.

Praying for you to have a quiet heart on Mother’s Day.