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African-AmericanNews &Issues is fortunate to have “old school” journalist that make excellent watchers on the wall, because they have the insight into the human condition that allows them to keep the forest from obscuring the trees. On the other hand, most of our writers also come from families that have a Holy Bible-based Christian philosophy that’s anchored by The Golden Rule. And, for that reason, they see the little things that are overlooked by a generation of journalist that were educated to always look for the big picture.
Where are we coming from? Would you believe that we’re coming from a Black perspective that’s still in the eye of Hurricane Katrina and Rita?
We Must Understand, the most revealing story, behind the hurricane stories, is not the property damage, or even deaths wrought by the acts of providence. Nor is it the not too surprising bumbling of inept governments—on all levels—that in many cases added insult to injury to the evacuee’s desperate plight. The real story is the short sightedness of public servants that have no clue about what desperate citizens need the most during a time of trouble. Christian wisdom notwithstanding, public servants and/or those sitting at the planning tables apparently were much too busy addressing the big picture, to pay attention to something as small as a much needed intellectual or spiritual hug. If you’re still wondering where we’re coming from, perhaps you should wipe the dust off of your Holy Bibles and turn to first Corinthians 13:4
“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profited me nothing,” is perhaps one of the most puzzling scriptures in the good book, insofar as charity is lost in translation in 2005 America. Thus, if you want to break it down a bit more, check out 2 Peter 1: 5-7: “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge And to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness…. And to godliness brotherly love kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” As one reads the foregoing text, it’s likely they confuse biblical concepts with universal laws, insofar as few preachers of the Gospel tell their congregation that The Golden Rule has been around long before Jesus the Christ was born.
Nevertheless, if our editorial is beginning to sound like a sermon, let’s just cut to the chase and tell it like it is. From a watcher on the wall perspective, one of the biggest problems citizens have always had with public assistance, i.e, Human Resources, FEMA, Red Cross, and even many grassroots organizations, is the lack of consideration and/or caring that the vacillators of public assistance demonstrate toward the tired and huddle masses “that come begging.”
We certainly concede the sad fact that Katrina and Rita were unprecedented acts of providence. On the other hand, when you see thousands of people—many of the elderly and/or sick—standing in the blazing sun waiting for much needed provisions, or resources like the refugees in war torn Third World Nations. But, before we go any further with our condemnation, perhaps we should offer a disclaimer.
If you’re among the hard working and beleaguered public servants that never allowed yourself to even think, “They should have thought about this (kind of crisis situation), before they laid up and had all of those babies” or “before they dropped out of school to increase their chances of living in poverty,” we aren’t talking to you. If, however, you have disdain for poor people, who definitely will be with us always, we think it will be very instructive, if not enlightening for you to learn what an intellectual or spiritual hug is. To break it down to the grassroots level, one only has to think of a crying child coming to their mother with a bleeding hand. For sure, the first thing that a good, resource mother would do is stop the bleeding. She then would clean it up and put something on it to relieve the pain. Then she would give the child a big hug or even kiss the hand.
We Must Understand, although you know and we know that hugging a hurting child, or kissing an ache really doesn’t make the pain go away, or help the wound heal any faster. Conversely, you also know, as well as we know, that it doesn’t matter if the child caused the injury to herself, it is very comforting when her mother demonstrate that she not only cares, but feels her pain too. In other words, we at African-AmericanNews& Issues, would like to remind the frustrated public servants, dealing duly frustrated citizens in need, to have an All State Insurance mindset, so that the public that they serve will know that they’re in good hands.