What do you want to be when you grow up?

A nurse. 

Can't quite believe I answered with that when I was younger; today I can't imagine working in the medical field! I'm very thankful for the people who do, but I know I'm definitely not cut out for it. Uh-uh. No way.

A teacher.

Now that's more like it. I remember playing with a friend when we were younger, setting up all of our stuffed teddy bears, stuffed monkeys, stuffed penguins and stuffed-everything-else on her bed, and teaching our "class" together (also disciplining when the big stuffed moose caused trouble!). My heart is still for teaching, and although I've never exactly studied it, I thoroughly enjoyed my semester internship as Teacher's Assistant at Prairie Bible College, and love the opportunities that I have now to preach the odd time, teach English, etc. If I were to get into the working world, I think I'd go in the direction of teaching.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

How did you respond to that question when you were little?

I think I can assume some of the answers you didn't give.

Stressed.

Uneducated.  

Discriminated against.  

Dependent on social systems for financial support.

Without access to health care.

Poor.

How is it that we can so easily end up where we never wanted to be? But what if you were never aware of another option?

The theme of social justice remains on my heart, and I'm becoming more and more convinced that poverty isn't just a physical state of need; it starts in the mind. It's easy for us (rich? educated? advanced?) people to look at beggars or homeless people and think, "Oh, just get a job." Or to hear stories of plight, awful stories of children sold into sex trafficking, and wonder what is so wrong with the family that they didn't see that danger coming, and believed their daughter would really have a better life with that stranger who offered to marry them.

But if poverty was all you'd ever known, all that your parents grew up with, and what their parents before them struggled with as well, wouldn't you also begin to believe that poverty was simply your lot in life?

Image from Atlantic Cities

I read a super interesting article the other day about how "poverty taxes the brain." This website discusses some new, groundbreaking findings which conclude that "poverty imposes such a massive cognitive load on the poor that they have little bandwidth left over to do many of the things that might lift them out of poverty – like go to night school, or search for a new job, or even remember to pay bills on time." Even something like struggling to be a good parent can be connected to not handling finances well. "Poor people live in a constant state of scarcity (in this case, scarce mental bandwidth)." Poverty, as well as everything that accompanies it (discrimination, dependency, stress), puts such a burden on the minds of those caught up in it that it's like a loaded mental bandwidth, where "in the case of the poor...you’re just more likely to not notice things, you’re more likely to not resist things you ought to resist, you’re more likely to forget things, you’re going to have less patience, less attention to devote to your children when they come back from school.”

Our dear brothers and sisters living in Third World countries, living in slums, sleeping in shelters, or even living across the street from us...they can't always help themselves.

And I was convicted again when I read from Provers 14 this morning: "Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God" (v. 31). 

I know that decisions have consequences and that you reap what you sow, but I also know that probably none of the people whom we find easy to judge set out as a child to be "poor" when they grew up. Or to be a bad parent. Or to be an addict. Or to not be able to provide for their family.

They had dreams...and they still do.

This online article concludes with some good news:

"Conversely, going forward, this also means that anti-poverty programs could have a huge benefit that we've never recognized before: Help people become more financially stable, and you also free up their cognitive resources to succeed in all kinds of other ways as well."

HELPING PEOPLE...that's the key. And that is good news!

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Friends, I'm currently working on a little design project, and would like your ideas. I want to make bookmarks to give away, with a list of things people can do to "practically engage in the fight against injustice." Sometimes the need seems so great and we don't know where to start so we just do nothing at all.

What resources, what causes, what links or ideas could you add to my list below?

1. Pray!
2. Donate to organizations (such as?) who are already "on the ground," running with a vision.
3. Buy Fair Trade (lots of items, such as chocolate and coffee, can be found in normal grocery stores. I was excited when I recently found a small shop in our city that sells directly imported, hand-made products such as stationary, jewelry, and bags!)
4. Sponsor a child, and help them escape the cycle of poverty and fulfill their dreams.

Your suggestions?