Comments on: The Haves at the Have-Not Flea Market

By: Misty

Misty — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 19:41:49 +0000

Duchess, the joke in Arkansas has long been that whatever low rank Arkansas holds for any given statistic, we can say, “At least we still beat Mississippi!” The southern states are very poor. And I am nearly to the point that I want my missionary money and time to go to those here in our own country that need help so badly.

By: duchess

duchess — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 19:22:58 +0000

The post made me think. Perhaps it’s because my parents come from a truly have-not background, and perhaps it’s because my extended family (overseas) and friends (here) are still in the have-not category, but I have been able to maintain an awareness of the gulf between my current life and what exists, as you say, “next door.” I always did wonder, though, why so much of the volunteer and religious focus (regardless of the faith) seems to be aimed for the overseas - doctors going to sub-Sahara Africa to make medical rounds, donating old glasses, etc, when there’s so much that needs to be done here. One of my uncle-doctors work in Tennessee, and he is always talking about how he and his colleagues regularly drive into rural Mississippi to offer free nutrition advice and preventive care. He always pounds the table and says, “They live in the richest country in the world, and they aren’t any better off than our people back home!” I think encouraging local organizations, whether it’s a business group, or a school volunteer group, to look nearby is one step towards not forgetting the divide.

I came to a similar realization about breast-feeding being something only the well-off can do nowadays, too. A little jarring and sad, isn’t it?

By: LB

LB — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:45:16 +0000

Our church has set up a free medical clinic in in the inner city here in Little Rock. A retired doctor in our congregation started it.

I believe these types of services to the “have nots” should be a major focus of the church in the U.S., but it seems that more focus is on missions outside our country. Don’t know why that is.

By: Misty

Misty — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:25:52 +0000

Thanks Joyous, I liked your post too. I don’t like what divorce does to health care for kids and your post and people’s responses to it, bear witness to that.

Geof, that’s the part that I have problems with. How do I address this problem? I’ve been thinking this morning that I wanted to do some research on organizations that do dental care for children, maybe through the school systems. One of the statistics I read said that poor children miss more school due to dental-related illness than more well off children. So why can’t we get these kids the care they need at/through school?

By: Geof F. Morris

Geof F. Morris — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 12:10:38 +0000

Well, we will always have the poor with us. It’s just how we choose to shape society to attempt to level the playing field that truly matters. What a daunting moral obligation, eh?

By: Joyous

Joyous — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 04:43:21 +0000

Dang it all, you’ve provoked me into a comment too long to post here.
http://joyeuse13.livejournal.com/369720.html