People facing tough times

Somewhere in every one of our communities people are facing hard times. It may make the news if it is a tornado or flooding and impacts a large number of people all at once. When these larger incidents happen, human nature, and the love God places in our hearts, takes over. People who don't even know one another are suddenly helping, or being helped by people they might ignore in most other circumstances. They may volunteer with sandbagging, clean-up after the tornado or flood, they may give money, send needed supplies, etc...

For some people their human nature, the love that God places in all of our hearts, is always open to others. They know there are people in every one of our communities facing hard times, through no fault of their own, or through their own fault, that need the human nature of others, the love that God places in our hearts, to help, or guide them.

Some give with their lives in their work with those in need in non-profit agencies. Some give with their time volunteering at food banks, at soup kitchens, at thrift stores, and at other non-profit agencies. Some give with their money to sustain these organizations that reach out with the love of God that has been placed in their hearts in their human nature to help those in need.

Some know that people facing hard times sometimes need more than just emergency assistance. Sometimes the struggles they face means they have to dig deep within themselves to discover strengths they didn't know they had and they need someone who believes in them to help them find and develop this strength. Sometimes the struggles they face don't have an easy solution and they need long term help and guidance to regain their footing and be able to lead healthy, happy and successful lives.

Some have developed their own humility well enough to know that often the things we do in everyday life in our competitive society that often bases success on winning economically, socially, or politically are things that make life harder for others. As we win others must lose. They know that while this too is part of the nature of our lives, sometimes we go too far and emphasize our own need to win in ways that are unfair and harmful to others. They know the importance of balance, humility, and the love that God places in our hearts that we either develop or not within our human nature.

For me World War II was one of the best examples in my lifetime of people overcoming hard times and the barriers that separated them to work together and find a common ground. It wasn't a tornado or flood that brought people to together briefly and then they went back to their normal lives. World War II put poor people and rich people together in the same foxhole for a long period of time, women took over "men's" jobs in factories, rationing was a way of life for a whole society, and we saw the horrors of discrimination played out before our eyes in a fashion no one thought was possible in the holocaust. And, even if war is necessary, war itself is Hell - the opposite of humanity living up to the love God places in our hearts.

Yet, out of World War II, our working together, finding common grounds while emphasizing a willingness to sacrifice for the common good, and with a sustained effort over time taking on inhumanity we laid the groundwork in our own society for the G.I Bill of Rights that helped veterans throughout our society get good educations, buy homes, helped create a viable middle class, and as we faced the flaws of "separate but equal" it led to the civil rights movement, and given the chance to use their talents in a more complete manner women also fought for their rights.

Hard times can bring out the best in us.

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