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We Are Our Brother’s Keeper
By Florence Vining Thomen, East Canaan
I'm sure you are a charitable person. Do you have $20 each month that you are willing to use for a charitable purpose? I know we learn of the great needs of children all over the world. But people here in the U.S. also have need of your charitable donations. I'm sure the social worker in your town can furnish information as to where your money would help the most. Why not call and inquire?
Yes, we should look to our own "backyard," so to speak, first. While we are on the subject, may I say one thing? Why should we become generous only at Thanksgiving and Christmas? Must those same families go hungry the rest of the year? Think about that!
I don't really practice what I preach, though. I have a deep and compassionate feeling for those Americans (the Native Americans, I mean) whom our forebears so cruelly wronged. And I feel that I must do what I can to alleviate the great hunger and deprivation that are rampant in their midst today. Have you noticed the recent weather reports for the Dakota area, where "my" Sioux Indians struggle to survive? Personally, I feel for them in a special way. My heart aches for them, because there is such a lack of compassion on the part of those who could alleviate all that misery.
As I have said before, often an uninsulated shack may house a family of ten, from grandparents to babies, all huddling together to keep from freezing in the below-zero chill of wind and snow. And this condition starts there long before our winter weather begins here—and lasts into our early spring.
I do not often find the $20 to send each month, but I do send used warm clothing, blankets, etc. whenever I have any or receive some from sympathetic friends. And food items are welcome as well. How deep is your compassion? Yes, we are all our brother's keeper.
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