May 17, 2013
The cost of being poor
Writing for Red Letter Christians, Katelin Hansen says that most of us wouldn’t be able to afford being poor. To prove her argument, she has provided an insightful article filled with embedded links to back up each point. She writes: “One can work full time and still not earn an income that is above the poverty line. Families are forced to make tough choices to stay afloat, living paycheck to paycheck with no opportunity to save. All this in a world where everything is more expensive when you’re poor.” She shows how people who are poor face higher costs in both time and money. And she includes a link to an interactive video game in which you can try your hand at escaping poverty while running into one roadblock after another. Yet, many people still think poor people have only themselves to blame for their situation and that digging out is easy if they have the will. The Bible has a lot to say about our responsibility toward persons who are poor. Hansen’s article reminds us of that fact and should move us, as Christians and as feminists, toward both compassion and action.
