Some years ago, while working in Church work, I started to call ‘poor’ persons in need. It seemed to me that the word ‘poor’ was getting to much stigma attached to it. By calling some people ‘poor’ they were easier to dismiss. So I started used the phrase “people in need”. No matter how you say there is a growing population in the USA become poorer while there is very tiny group becoming very rich.

Today I was blessed with a compressed view of what it means to be poor and still have a vehicle. My friend, who has been living in pain for many years and is disabled, recently had to move out of her apartment into a support shared apartment building, as it is called. While I and another person drove her in her van, with her laying down in the backseat, she was able to get assistance of persons who would come over, help her around the house, and cook a meal and run, errands to the store. Since the new place has its own aides for assistance she can no longer get such assistance.

However, being new in the place with seems to be understaffed and not being on the right schedule for food personal buying she asked me to help her out this afternoon. At first it started out with my taking her van in for an oil change but then the list grew. Here is where I was after going to her place to pick up her van, keys, and shopping list. First I went to get an oil change for her van to a place she had dealt with in the van. From there I went to her old apartment building to turn in her keys. Then I made a quick stop at an AMT machine to get out some money. Next I went over to Cash checking place to get $10 of quarters so she could wash her cloths. After that I went next door to a Family dollar store to purchase some items that she regularly purchases there. Then I went to a major grocery store to get a favorite type of yogurt. Next I went to a grocery store that she had heard about from others in the apartment that had good deals on food. Being an unfamiliar store it took me quite some time to purchase everything on the list and often I had to guess on the type of a particular product. On the way back to her place I stopped to get gas for her van.

Near the end of the run when I was feeling so good and upset about spending so much time doing these things, I started to realize I was getting a condensed glimpse of the life of the poor: cash store, quarters for the washing clothes, dollar store for particular items, going to a local store that people say has good prices, the kind of quick food I was purchasing, heavy on the instant nature, ATM machines are all part of life of poor person. If a person has a van like my friend then purchasing gas and an oil change are necessary.

Near the end of journey I got a few calls from other friends I have helped with rides to medical appointments, nursing home or other place. I call them friends for like my friend today they have become my friends and sharing the many blessings and grace God sheds on the people in need ( poor). I was tired and want to end this endless journey but then I remembered the many gifts these friends as my friend today had sharing with me, and I was peace and understanding on the phone. As they say everyone wants to be friends with a rich person but not many with someone in need. Although I was tired and sick of shopping I started to realize the four and one-half of running errands was really a grace, a compressed lesson on what it means to be a person in need.

Comments

(:commentboxchrono:)