By Dencio S. Acop
Given all the distractions in the world, giving a damn about other people sometimes feels like asking too much. We find all kinds of excuses not to care, don’t we? “I don’t even have enough money for myself and my family; why should I give to some beggar who probably did that to himself anyway?!” “Why should I even care; I’ve got so many problems of my own?” “There are so many scams around; this guy is most probably just another poser trying to fool me into giving him some of my hard-earned money.” “Why should I volunteer; what has this community ever done for me?” “Why should I give to lazy people who didn’t want to study and turned up being the way they are now?” “To each his own!” “I don’t care; mind your own business!” “Why should I serve this country? I belong to a wealthy family and have a bright political future ahead of me!” “Why should I visit the hospitals? I am petrified of hospitals!” “Why would I visit the prisons? Those inmates are a bunch of low-life’s who are hopeless!” In the Good Book, three classes of people are often mentioned as the classic examples of individuals in need of charity: the widow or orphan, the leper or the sick, and the imprisoned. Let us examine each one.
First, the widow or orphan represented the poor in society. A woman who lost her husband or a child who lost her parents automatically became destitute. In the early days, widows and orphans quickly became fair game soon as they lost the persons in charge of their safety and security. Widows and orphans were common as men were often sent into battle to defend their territory against invaders. Men-casualties were frequent as a result of wars. This regular occurrence left many widows and orphans behind who either became slaves of their enemies or properties of whoever wanted them. If not, these survivors of men who perished in battles became homeless beggars – the poor and destitute of society. Women back in the day did not have the status that would allow them to work as livelihood earners. The breadwinners of families were the men.
Second, the leper represented not only the sick in society but the outcast. No one wanted to touch a leper lest they too became infected by the communicable disease and be removed from society until they died. Gravely ill as they already were, lepers in the early days were unjustly treated by a false religious belief that condemned their condition as a result of sin. Already burdened by their illness, lepers were outcasted in remote leper colonies far away from communities to prevent contact with healthy people. They were not only humiliated but also denied any hope of cure or even just palliative care. Lepers might just as well be considered already dead because that was how they were treated. That is why when the Lord Jesus Christ touched a leper curing him, witnesses broke down. Centuries later, following the Lord’s example of charity, Father Damien paid the ultimate sacrifice caring for the sick in the leper colony at Molokai.
And third, the imprisoned were also pretty common back in the day (as it still is today) primarily because of wars. Defeated armies and occupied lands, not to mention arrested criminals, made sure that jails were always full. Whether truly guilty or innocent, prisoners suffered the same fate. They suffered the pains and indignity of inhumane treatment at the hands of cruel captors and jailers. The fate suffered by Jesus at the hands of cruel Roman soldiers is a classic example. Unless visited by people who cared, suffering inmates (just like hospitalized sick patients) felt alone, abandoned, and ignored.
In sum, the distractions in life may cause us to lose focus of others needing our attention and help. We naturally tend to be more focused on our own well-being and of those we care about. We may be aware of the pains and sufferings that go on in the world, but these seem far away. Unless we are in pain or suffering ourselves, we are numbed by the comforts of this life toward the suffering of others. But try to ponder for a moment: What if we were in the place of the widow or orphan, the sick and dying, or the imprisoned? Wouldn’t we crave for empathy, compassion, and charity from others? We may be feeling okay now but we know that such won’t last forever. Time will come when aging and mortality shall catch up to us. I think it is this reality which reminds us all about our common humanity – that we are all brothers and sisters. And not only that – we are all created in the image and likeness of God. As such, we have a common dignity and responsibility towards one another to do the greatest good for the greatest number in every possible way we can.
