Amma's blog: "I Am"

I used to have a friend, who had a good job, but struggled with money even so. She told me she and some others were going to go to a charity organization and get christmas toys for her child for free. She asked if I would like to come and sign up too. I had four children to her one, and I, too, was struggling with a lack of money - though I had a good job. I told her no. I did not tell her about my first christmas as a married girl (looking back I cannot claim the status of woman, but I surely was a brave soul - or stupid) when the only thing I had to give was honor back to my parents in the form of a feathered hat band for the cowboy hat of my father, and a hand made needle point picture of a hat full of cherries for my mother. No christmas presents for my child. My then husband cried. I knew that it was no big deal.

In my town there was a hero who had his story honored recently. He was a nurse who cared for many others and during the course of his caring he was poked with a needle and became ill. His family was eventually left to carry on without him, and their dilapidated home was razed to the ground and in its place rose a structure of beauty and imagination. I drove passed it just yesterday, and I am pleased that somebody was given a miracle of sorts, sponsor driven though it could be considered since it was done by the television show Extreme Home Makeover (complete with sponsor commercials). I wrote to the show, because I thought my daughter was a hero, given her history of helping others with her flair for the dramatic in the organization Kids Involved In Helping Others, given her school spirit, given her outstanding achievement in finishing college while being a mother and struggling with money, just as I did. And she had physical challenges to overcome. Then her baby boy was diagnosed with leukemia, just four months after her celebratory day of graduation from college. The television show did not chose her story, my grandson died on Good Friday, April 10th of this year, but she carries on, now employed within her field of study.

I know other people that also work very hard, and they live in a trailer, just like I did. They do not have termites, as my trailer did - but their ceiling is falling in. It is an unfortunate situation. How easy would it be for some person with the right skill and materials to fix that roof. Why is there no sponsor driven television show for Extreme Home With Wheels That Never Move Makeover. Forget the Extreme - how about just safe. I imagine it would not be a good thing to have your ceiling fall on you. I have fixed a few in my amateur determination to be a carpenter - though really I was just getting what had to be done, done. Why is there no obvious fund that people can apply to for the this sort of thing - not government run (nothing would EVER get done without months or years of debate and posturing and dotted Is and crossed Ts and some vague questioning of heritage - as if not every hard working poor mother with children is the same in the eyes of God) - where is the pool of skilled citizens, small businesses, and a community chest (NOT GOVERNMENT RUN), that could take a few hours and make it all better.

But then there are those who do not have even a trailer with a roof falling in. Our country is only as strong, ultimately, as its weakest links. Is that not some law of nature, or at least of the chains that bind us all together. So are we going to live in a nation where multiple chains are clanking around, too worried about surviving to achieve thriving. Is there not some way that we could hold on to each other.

I think it is truly fascinating the way that science is breaking the DNA codes. In time there will be an eradication of genetic diseases. All bodies will be perfect. But before that happens we do surely need to perfect our minds; or those perfect bodies will do nothing but destroy each other in ever more creative ways.

I tithe without the veil of ritual, I would join that pool of citizens that were willing to reach back to those that represent where they were and help them to thrive. If you were fortunate enough to not have any real life experience with poverty - perhaps you should go pull a Spurlock and check it out for 30 days. It could be enlightening.

...But you can't read history at an illiterate stage And you can't raise a family on minimum wage... (A lyric from Immortal Technique)

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