Many people I know, including myself, are sick or just very tired. I do not know what it is, maybe just the weather or people I know getting older or busier, but it seems to be.

One friend I know is not so old, perhaps in her 50’s, but she is tired from being poor. She lives in a small house with her daughter, granddaughters and great granddaughter. She is going to school full time trying to earn her degree; she works full time at a very hard job and is active in her church and social justice activities. No matter how hard she tries or hard she works she never seems to get ahead in life and stays trapped in the web of poverty. When she sees injustice, like that of the Milwaukee St. Vincent de Paul, she seeks to change it and is often frustrated with the indifference of others. She does not know how we got here but knows there has been a basic structural change in society that hurts the poor and marginalized.

A good example is that the few controlling the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Milwaukee say they are interested in structural change in society but then spend millions of dollars on a thrift store in the suburbs saying it will make money to help the poor. Putting a store in the midst of neighborhood of the poor would be making a structural change; putting in the suburbs to make money for the poor is, at best if it works, just a band aid.

A model for structural change in society is in Matthew 25 in the Gospel. Jesus is talking of how nations, governments and groups will be judged. Those institutions that individually and collectively that are structured to feed the hungry, clothe persons, provide basic house will be welcome in to the kingdom of God. Those who do not do “for the least of people” will be cast aside. When individuals, groups like St. Vincent de Paul, governments like City of Milwaukee, nations like the USA learn and practice there will be a true revolution.

Tonight on TV news I heard that two after school programs that are proven to help teenage African Americans excel in school are being cut, “due to lack of funding.” One of the staff of the centers said that we could spend a few hundred dollars to help a teen at the front end of his life or spend $30,000 to house that person in prison at the other end. When will we learn that given opportunity, good paying jobs, affordable health insurance, excellent schools, money for basic needs like food and shelter to everyone who needs it, like my friend, we will reenergize our county and perhaps not be so tired.

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