Stilling The Sound of the Ruthless



Back packs with necessary school supplies are organized and
distributed. Soups are made and frozen
for later distribution. Nightly community meals are planned. The Island Food
Pantry hours expand. Volunteers make the food pick-ups at the
local supermarkets and libraries and churches to keep the Pantry shelves well
stocked. “Clothes To Go” welcomes folks
to come and “shop” for needed items while they await their turn in line at the
Food Pantry. No money changes hands. Thanksgiving Dinners will “pop up” at
various churches, at the VFW, and the American Legion Hall. The Committee On Hunger will distribute
baskets with turkey and all the trimmings to families in need. All this in the service of being sure that no
one goes hungry or without shelter for lack of attention on the part of the
community.
Even with
all this activity on the part of this island
in the service of people in need, no one believes or is fooled into
thinking this is how the need SHOULD be answered. The work and concern and loving service is indispensable
- - but in a “land of plenty” it should
not be so. In a true “land of plenty” there
would be adequate affordable housing for all.
There would be functioning
systems in place to assure affordable fuel.
Families would not be making the choice between feeding themselves and keeping the house warm.
Our
community is one of hundreds around the country who keep expanding our
“band-aid” capabilities to care for the most vulnerable among us as the highest
law making body in the land tries to figure out how to limit the funds and
resources available to address these same issues nationally. We do a pretty good job. Fortunately, we know
we can carry on this way for awhile, seeking to gain some balance here between
the “haves” and the “have-nots.” There
is enough consciousness and enough conscience to keep the community
motivated.

I take hope
and direction from the words of the prophet Isaiah’s psalm of thanksgiving (Isaiah 25:1,4-5),
verses that follow on the almost apocalyptic judgments of God against those
have ignored and transgressed against the Holy Vision for humanity:
O Lord, you are my
God’
I will exalt you, I
will praise your name;
for you have done
wonderful things,
plans formed of old,
faithful and sure.
For you have been a
refuge to the poor;
a refuge to the needy
in their distress,
a shelter from the
rainstorm and
a shade from the
heat.
When the blast of the
ruthless was
like a winter
rainstorm,
the noise of aliens
like heat in a dry place,
you subdued the heat
with the shade of clouds;
the song of the
ruthless was stilled.
In no time
at all, the airwaves will be filled with the sounds of Christmas. What we hear, depending on the day and the
choice of music, will either re-enforce our national predilection for ignoring
the most basic needs of the human community in favor of rank consumerism,
militarism, and partisanship or it will inspire us to embrace the vision of
wholeness expounded in Isaiah’s words - - a wholeness where the “song of the
ruthless is stilled”. May there be a
profound silence........
.......and after an appropriate pause, may we fill the silence with
the music of the sounds of “plans formed
of old, faithful and sure...”, plans that embody justice and compassion,
kindness and generosity, well being and hospitality. May it be so.
Vicky Hanjian
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