Category: Social Issues

Am I a Bad Samaritan?

9/14/2018

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Along our hiking trail we spotted a rickety wheelchair turned over and empty. My husband Duane and I ran toward it and discovered a man on all fours struggling to crawl toward it. He’d tumbled out and spent the night trapped between rocks.
     We lifted him into his chair and asked what we could get him. He motioned to plastic bags scattered in the dirt. “My beer,” he slurred.
     I dug into the torn bags and found jars of peanut butter and jelly, a dirty plastic spoon, and two liters of beer. I handed him a liter, and he cradled it.
     He wanted to get to a 7-Eleven across a busy intersection, so Duane maneuvered him over the six lanes. “You gotta get sober to figure out what to do,” Duane called above the car noise.    “I’m okay.”
     He insisted on going the rest of the way on his own, but we called 9-1-1 to report him. They’d send a paramedic to check.    Confusion ran through me, that helplessness I always feel when I come across someone in poverty and don’t know how to truly help. Am I a Bad Samaritan?
     I remember Charles Spurgeon, who reached out to London’s orphans 150 years ago. How did he make an impact in such overwhelming need? “The repetition of small efforts will accomplish more than the occasional use of great talents,” he said.
  With that in mind, each week I help bag hundreds of sacks of food for children. They receive meals at school. But on weekends, the cupboard may be bare, so we give them food to carry home. I'm confident here that although our small efforts are just a dent in their needs, they still accomplish much.

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How Costly Are Immigrants?

7/5/2018

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Do immigrants leech off our economy and threaten our culture? That’s what many believe. But look at my grandparents. Three of them were among the homeless, tempest-tost who knocked on Lady Liberty’s door. They arrived dirt poor, yet their descendants increased our gross national product and improved society by becoming educators, agriculturalists, pharmacists, a hospital administrator, interior designers, writers, business entrepreneurs, a therapist, a pianist, a pastor, a computer specialist, a photographer, a missionary, and an award-winning college baseball coach (can’t get much more American than that). They weren’t a drain on our country; they were a gain.
Yet some claim that the new wave of immigrants are alien riffraff bottom feeding off our economy. Not according to recent studies:
     * Crime? Immigrants, including undocumented ones, commit crimes at lower rates than native-born Americans, according to the Cato Institute. It’s no surprise then that states with larger shares of undocumented immigrants often have lower crime rates, as the journal “Criminology” reported.
     * Economics? Both authorized and unauthorized immigration boosts wages and reduces unemployment for native-born Americans. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine reported that the children of immigrants are “among the strongest economic and fiscal contributors in the U.S. population, contributing more in taxes than either their parents or the rest of the native-born population.”
     Even destitute refugees don’t suck our coffers empty. A report commissioned by President Trump determined that refugees brought in $63 billion more in tax revenue during the past decade than they cost the government.
     So let’s drop the fear hysteria. It’s not only humanitarian to welcome these newcomers, it enhances our country because they are law-abiding, economic engines.
  Immigrants aren’t costly, they’re priceless.

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Not a Piece of Cake

6/8/2018

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   Jack Phillips’s life hasn’t been a piece of cake. Since he turned down a job to design a wedding cake for a homosexual couple, he’s been threatened to be shot in the head or ripped apart with a machete. That doesn’t fit with the Jack I know, a quiet baker in my neighborhood. When we needed a cake for a special birthday, I visited him at his obscure shop where Jack listened attentively to my wishes. Then he meticulously fashioned a moist carrot cake with rich cream cheese frosting that melted in our mouths. A masterpiece.
   That’s Jack’s aim - to please customers. When developing a couple’s nuptial cake, he “discusses their preferences, their personalities, and the details of their wedding to ensure that each cake reflects the couple who ordered it,” the U.S. Supreme Court noted in its decision this week regarding Jack.
     When a homosexual couple asked Jack for a wedding cake, he says he didn’t turn them down, but turned down the event. He offered to produce something for another occasion or sell them anything else in the store. Why? Because Jack is among those who - not wanting to trample on anyone’s civil rights - believe that marriage is inherently an opposite-sex union. Jack’s not alone. Millions of conservative Christians, Jews, and Muslims embrace this belief.
     Should their religious rights be squashed in the name of civil rights? The U.S. Supreme Court said “no.” The state must respect the beliefs of people of faith.
     This meshes with our forefathers’ vision of liberty and justice for all, where artists like Jack have the freedom to practice their skills and their religion as they see fit.
     There’s plenty of room for both civil rights and religious freedoms under our big, pluralistic American tent.
     ***
     Image from Masterpiece Cakeshop website with text added.

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Is there a Secret to True Beauty?

5/24/2018

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I saw firsthand recently how early the focus on “looks” begins. When I arrived at a salon to get my hair cut, I spotted a young boy in a chair, his hair being styled so the number “1” would stand out on the back of his head. The grin on his face told me how important this was. Later, the stylist told me that young boys are even more conscious of their hair than girls.
     Body image among kids is a big deal. Take the issue of weight. I’ve read that 81 percent of ten-year-olds in America are afraid of being fat. By teenage years more than half of all girls are on a diet or think they should be.
     This made me frightened and angry enough that a few years ago I wrote a children’s book for my grandkids about our airbrushed society. I didn’t want them to fall prey to this pressure.
     In the book, a little brown hen named Emma thinks she’s homely. She undergoes a ridiculous makeover where she’s nipped, tucked, snipped, and liposucked. She’s crowned Miss Poultry and becomes cover bird of the Barnyard Gazette with a centerfold spread. But is she happier?
     No. As we all must discover, outward appearance doesn’t equal inward happiness. The stakes are high: either we develop a healthy self esteem, or we keep bobbing around the choppy waters of others’ opinions.
     I’ve just re-released “Hooty McTooty Discovers True Beauty” in paperback, ebook, and hardback. Through its Seuss-like rhyme and sophisticated humor, kids and adults share good laughs while entering the topsy-turvy world of self image. You can join Hooty’s campaign for a positive self image by exploring the book here.

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When Politics Divide

4/27/2018

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   The three of us were so close in college that our closets became one. At the end of the year we weren’t sure who owned what. We had supported each other through midterms and finals. Cried through loves lost and found. Then we graduated and geography separated us, with the years bringing marriages, kids, and careers.
     We hadn’t been together for decades, so you can imagine my excitement when we gathered for a breakfast that lasted until lunch. Our table filled with stories of “remember when,” followed by deep laughter.
     Then one person brought up politics, and the other jumped in enthusiastically. She was onboard with everything the first said.    I wasn’t. I remained silent and hoped they’d move on because I didn’t know how to express my cautions.
     But they noticed my reserve, and I was on the spot. I struggled for words. The room turned hot and frosty at the same time. They didn’t understand me.
     We left each other awkwardly. They gave big hugs, but I sensed I was suddenly “suspect.” The ties that had bound us tightly had loosened. Was I falling out of the picture of our friendship?
     Since then, we’ve texted articles to explain our views. And here’s the strange thing - we want the same results, but we place our hope in different means to get there.
     I know they’re partly right and I’m partly wrong - that’s how conflicts play out. But are we so cemented in our views we can’t hear each other? Will partisan beliefs kill our friendship?
  I don’t know. And my heart aches.

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Am I a Bad Samaritan?

How Costly Are Immigrants?

Not a Piece of Cake

Is there a Secret to True Beauty?

When Politics Divide

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