Hunger can be a good thing. Of course this is easy for me to say since I just finished my bowl of cereal and fresh pineapple. But hunger can motivate some people to figure out how to earn a living.
I heard an NPR news story yesterday about a man who started serving gourmet food from a food truck. His money was drying up and he was getting desperate. A friend had the idea and the jumped on it. Now they own a fleet of food trucks and he is a celebrated chef. Hunger can make you move.
Of course, most of us don’t experience the kind of hunger like that written about in our proverb. We don’t live with absolutely no reserve. We don’t earn our money today and then use up all that we earned on today’s meals. But that is exactly what our proverb is talking about. Today’s pay pays for today’s food. Nothing left over. If you don’t go to work tomorrow, no food.
I think sometimes we need more of this kind of hunger. This hunger motivates to movement. For some, public assistance prevents them from being productive. It takes away their incentive. I said, for some! They are truly needy people, unable to do anything. And now our society is structured in a way that makes gainful employment very difficult for some.
I remember being hungry. We would make a meal from one box of Mac ‘N Cheese and a hotdog for two adults and two small kids. Rent was in danger of not being paid, let alone paid on time. Utilities within days of being shut off. Hunger was just around the corner, and I was the one responsible to provide. I was motivated to work.
Some call the system we have Toxic Charity. It appears on the surface to be the right thing to do, but in the end it poisons those who receive it.
I don’t have solutions for our current dilemma. Our local church is doing some creative things to take back the church’s proper role in helping the poor. Some provide employment for individuals. Transitional housing, drug rehab and vocational training, life basics, personal involvement. Each of these, and many more, restore dignity to the process. We help, but not enable. We walk with them without carrying them.
The Arnold Journey 