Seth Barnes - We need the poor

We need the poor. We especially need children who are poor and emotionally wounded. We need them because they enrich our lives. Their need becomes our opportunity to give. And as we give, we become like Christ. Finding we have little to give, we tap into his riches.

The irony is, because they are at a distance and their pain is remote, it is easier to turn away. But in doing so, we fail to see our own need, our own poverty.

Here then (thanks to Bill & Katie Swan), are a few of those we need. They help us answer the question "Who do we need - who should we care for?:

Jonathan. Whose father died
when he was 10 years old, leaving him with nine younger siblings.

He
has not known a day off since because his family depends on him for
survival.

Someone needs to care for
the nameless.
Who work 10 hour days in the dump gathering plastic bottles from the
piles of trash and walk away with 2.50$. One day Samantha found a
dead baby amongst the garbage.

And for
Fabio.
Whose mother left him at home when he was an infant. The neighborhood
kids would then come over and watch porn movies and imitate whatever
they saw
on him.

For
Diego,
Daniel
and Eddie.
Who inhale glue, paint thinner and other chemicals to alleviate the
pain caused by hunger and cold.

For
Timmy. He watched his father die and his mother remarry.
Only to then find himself [literally] sleeping with the pigs because
his stepfather hated him.

For
Marco.
A man who is bedridden. He cannot walk. He cannot talk. His
sheets are stained from urine and a stench of rotting flesh
penetrates his room. The only visible movement comes from the trails
of gnats and ants that dine on his open sores.

For
Hector. Whose father is also his own grandfather. He was
thrown away; dropped off on the streets with nothing but the clothes
on his back.