October 21, 2011

Letters to the Editor

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We should look for Jesus in the less fortunate, reader says

I take issue with the letter writer in the Oct. 14 issue of The Criterion—“What Would Jesus Do?”—who indicated that people who receive government assistance should at least submit to drug testing.

I believe it would be economically inefficient, and drug testing policies have done little to circumvent people from seeking to use drugs.

Also, I can’t see any reason why such an approach would suddenly work in this case.

The beaten, the battered and the abused—the underclass—are not the cause of social decay.

The underclass, poverty stricken and homeless are merely the symptom in many cases. The cause of social dysfunction is the imbalance of wealth and greed.

When we see those who are suffering, we should look for Jesus even in those less fortunate, and we should remind ourselves that, “there but for the grace of God go I.”

We have to respect the dignity of the people who, through no choice or fault of their own, find themselves in a grave situation that requires government assistance.

Of course, there are exceptions, but even those who have made it their state in life to depend on government assistance should be rendered a way out of the psychological enslavement of hopelessness that poverty can bring about—without giving up what little dignity they feel they have left.

- Kirth N. Roach, Order of Carmelite Discalced Secular, Indianapolis

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