Help Up the Ladder

Since I try to be a good husband, I watch American Idol with Debbie. It’s not my favorite show. Sometimes it is hard to watch, especially the ridiculous song and dance routines the contestants do together and the way-too-long results shows (although I did like when all the contestants sang “Shout to the Lord” but perhaps I am biased). Last night, I have to admit, Idol Gives Back was inspiring.

There are so many people with so many needs, and I love that we live in a world in which we can actually do something about it. Giving money is a tiny part of bringing help, but it can make a huge difference. It is like giving someone a boost onto the bottom rung of the ladder so they can keep climbing up.

Have you noticed how the attitude in our culture seems to be shifting? It used to be that certain churches, missionaries, and certain non-profits cared about the plight of the poor. Now even pop culture does! Sometimes the church has been slow, but other times there are followers of Christ who have paved the way.

We would be amazed with the amount of progress we can make if we began to serve those we deem untouchable. Just as slavery and colonialism have ended we can be a part of ending poverty.

In The End of Poverty, Jeffrey D. Sachs writes, “Our generation is heir to two and a half centuries of economic progress. We can realistically envision a world without extreme poverty by the year 2025 because technological progress enables us to meet basic human needs on a global scale and to achieve a margin above basic needs unprecedented in history…Let the future say of our generation that we sent forth mighty currents of hope, and that we worked together to heal the world.”