By: Lynn Rilling
Income Director
I have a question: if you have a relative that is sick with a terrible disease (cancer, for example) would you share this information with your close friends – and maybe even not such close friends? My guess is yes, you would and so would I. Discussing illnesses is commonplace at home, work, and social gatherings.
Another question: if your family member is suffering, not from an illness, but because he/she is living in poverty would you discuss that with your friends? My guess is now, and I don’t think I would either. Why is it that we, as a society and community, cannot talk about money problems in people’s lives?
Maybe we can talk about how much we paid for a car and if we think we got a good deal or if we were taken advantage of. But what if our car is repossessed because we lost our job and couldn’t keep up with payments? These kinds of conversations typically don’t happen.
What if we could change that and start having these conversations? Would that help those that are struggling to make ends meet? My guess is yes, because the more an issue is in the public’s eye (i.e. has our attention) the more likely something will be done about it. While poverty issues are not easy to solve, and I don’t mean to suggest that they are, we at least need to start recognizing that these difficult issues continue to persist and are even growing. We should not be ashamed if we or people we know are suffering with financial difficulties anymore than we would not be ashamed if we or people we know are sick with an illness.
