2 posts from 2006

I was talkin' to Oliver earlier about how Vox has been focusing on helping homeless people a lot since its beginning... which is definitely a good thing, don't get me wrong. But today I went into Borders with Steph and saw the book I know the Elements leaders or something are reading and picked it up to read a bit, which made me think more about the issue.

I realize more and more that I'm a really critical/judgmental person of the type who has spent "too much" time in church and is a bit burnt out on hypocrisy, deliberate or unintentional. So I really don't mean this to sound like a rant or anything; it's just an observation. But the thing here is... Vox is a community of almost entirely middle-to-upper-class higher-education students and graduates. Schooling-wise, we've had the best of the best. The fact that we're a stone's throw from a highly successful public university silently agrees. No matter if we've had to fight to pay our own bills and loans and all that. Good for us; but we made it or are making it or are struggling a bit. We don't know what it means to beg your next meal off the street and wonder where your next article of warm clothing will come from. We shouldn't be ashamed of what we have, but we should not take it for granted.

But it's not that easy to say, "Oh, think of the homeless people. Let's break down how much our average salary could buy them." Because Gid does it every week. And it "doesn't work" because even if you crunch numbers to me, even if I go volunteer at ARCH's soup kitchen... it doesn't mean anything to me spiritually or to my heart or anything. Heck, that's the sort of thing I do as a journalist; cold analysis of facts and statistics. I'm really not one of the more well-to-do Asian kids, but compared to the people Gid is talking about I AM filthy rich. (Disclaimer: to people whose parents are very successful or who have earned themselves good jobs through diligence... this is not aimed as a critique of you or where your allowance or salary comes from... at all) I mean, I don't have to worry about collecting cans all day to make enough to feed me the next day. I spend my day in class (which costs $70/hour on average, I've heard), worrying about upcoming tests... and because of that worry I feel like I maybe deserve an overpriced beverage from a yuppie trendy store (Jamba Juice, Starbucks, Tap House, etc. etc.)... but you know, then I realize all that sugar and caffeine isn't good for me and my drink is cold already so I throw half of it away... then I have social obligations in the evening (friends' birthdays, y'know - we want to make this one memorable!) so there's dinner and spotting them and then the price of a gift and y'know, we'll go karaoke or downtown to top off the night. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a typical enough life as a single Vox college kid. We don't do this every single night, but some of us have enough leisure to do it... at least enough to average out for the rest of us.

Then if you're dating... then oh-em-gee. First-year anniversary is coming up. Something special's needed for that. Her birthday is next weekend. Another one of those social bashes. And as a significant other, your participation in the gift-giving is all-important. So much easier to go shopping than to make her something; besides, it would hurt all that much more if she didn't like what you made, so better to get something she can at least return if she hates it... Jewelry? Jewelry is good. (Oh, and kids die in Africa for your diamonds, as a side note) Dinner out on Sunday nights? That's your bill. Surprise him with cookie deliveries from Tiff's Treats? Those lil delicacies cost enough for two campus meals...

And so the list of college expenses goes. We're leaving out the important things like rent and bills and tuition and books... 'cuz we're all Asian, so we all have like 10 scholarships and work-study and fin aid and grandparents' trust funds for college, right? So let's "pretend" those aren't expenses we have to handle. Just for the sake of slowing down and realizing where our spending money goes... in context with homeless people.

You know that story of the widow and her two mites? Oh, of course you do unless you zoned out through 12 years of Sunday School and one of those famous Bible stories pastors love to mention from the pulpit. Leaving out the "let's show off how much money we're donating to church" part ('cuz I don't think Vox people are like that)... I have to say that I'm convicted when I realize how little a percentage of what I/we give as a congregation probably is of our total combined income. Generalizing here, we're smart talented young [Asian] people, half of whom have graduated with CS and EE degrees (I exaggerate again here). We have some of the highest salaries in the working arena based solely on our fields alone. It's not a common occurrence for some guys to land a starting salary up to two times higher than that of many near-retirement breadwinners of many families in America. I'm not saying that we're stingy. I'm not saying that we're unwilling to give. I'm not saying that we DON'T give. We give, and we're generous. But what is that to us? Really, just "pocket change" in a sense. We'll skip a meal out at the Oasis this quarter. We'll wait until next semester to buy that new MacBook. Or (and we're making such a compromise here that it kinda aches, but we're doing the right thing so kudos to us) instead of getting that video iPod we wanted, we'll settle for a Nano instead. (I don't have anything against Apple; their items are just somewhat of a status symbol in a way) Isn't that selfless of us? We're donating all that extra money to Vox for ponchos!

That's the perspective we're coming from as a church. It's a start, but how can we ever comprehend the enormity of having nothing when we have never had anything less than everything?

What about, at least, holding out on the MacBook and sticking with your two-year-old computer for another year? That money could probably house, clothe and feed a frugal single mom with kids for at least two months. Passing up on a Nano altogether could care for a Compassion kid for four or five months. Skipping all those meals out (I am so very guilty on this count given my last few weeks) could add up very quickly to pocket change for many grateful homeless people.

I took a public relations class this semester. We learned that the "public" is any audience who is affected by a certain issue, becomes aware of it and/or becomes involved in a solution. Superimposing this concept over our Vox dilemma, it becomes clear that we as the Vox "public" have been exposed to the concept and dire need of the homeless around our community. We are affected by them for various reasons, including the facta that 1) God commanded us to care for the needy around us 2) psh, we walk past them daily 3) they belong to our city and our government cares for them with our tax money. And we've tried to become involved in the situation... but are we going to the seaside, dipping our toes in a rock pool and saying we've swum enough to last the day?

My dad used to read these verses to my brothers and myself with particular emphasis:

It's interesting to me what a wide, wide social gap lies between our community and the homeless. (Or so it would seem; really, it's just poverty. A lot of them are as well or more highly educated than we are, believe it or not.) Obviously many of Them fall in the latter category mentioned in the verses above. But you know what? I am afraid many of Us fall in the former category. We, as a UT/Christian/AACM/Vox/American entity sit around moaning about why God doesn't help us or manifest himself more these days. We doubt his existence. Isn't that, in essence, saying "Who is God?" We have everything, so we don't need him. We've even got time on our hands to complain. If we were starving we'd be out there with the homeless guy and his grocery cart, picking up soda cans throughout Austin. Sadly enough, we're the ones who probably need him the most. The homeless people call on him all the time. "God bless you," they say when you drop coins in their cups. "God bless you anyways," when you "have no change in your pocket." "Jesus loves you" on signs by red lights on the highway. "Blessings" from the flower lady on the corner.

God doesn't like lukewarm Christians, but he does like Christians who have found moderation in the two extremes described in Proverbs. We, unlike the widow with her lil mites (they make me think of spiders and ticks and mites) don't have to give everything we've got. I don't think God has required that of our community, so we should not allow persuasive speeches to guilt us into donating the rest of our lunch money for the quarter. But are we willing to reevaluate the things we buy... less in context with what we really-deep-down-only-want-not need?

We just don't get it, because we can't. We cannot serve both God and money. Making both a priority doesn't work because they kind of run in opposite directions. We can see God as a means of making more money (yay, sell things to people within the church!). OR we could see our finances as a way to serve God better. But honestly, who really *yawn* thinks like that? C'mon! It's our four years to play! I gave That Guy In The Street my arcade quarters. I've done my good deed for the day! Sadly enough, that's the thing - following God is not a deed, it is not done by the day, it is not a Ziploc bag of quarters even if it's chock-full and one of those two-quart sliding ones. It is new mindset and a new perspective, a new focus and a new life.

It's not about helping the homeless so much as it is about changing us. God doesn't want us to give. Apparently the mafia and the philanthropists do a good enough job with that. God wants us to love. Your heart goes where your treasure goes. And as long as our treasure lies in "Arrr matey" gold and jewels, our hearts probably aren't out on the corner with the bag lady.

Inane first post that will go down in history as the crappiest opening post ever.

Oh noes, does this mean I'll have to tag my images from now on to find them when I want to import something from Flickr?!

Me - I'm so happy

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