Choice words

Kate gives us the option each week to write to a prompt word and contribute to the Five Minute Friday Linkup, you can join in here. Sometimes the word does not resonate. Other times, it gives rise to so many thoughts that I cannot capture them all in the five minutes writing time allocated. This week my response is the latter but here goes, timer set!

Those of you who read last week’s blog will know that I am transitioning between two roles. I was hoping for a quiet week as I completed my actions in one job and gathered by thoughts on the new role but two conversations stymied my plans.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki on Pexels.com

I was chatting with a group of friends about the work of ATD Fourth World in supporting those in poverty in the UK. One commented that people should not receive benefits if they have a smart TV. Feeling undermined, I looked up the cost of a modest TV. You can get one for around £100 on Amazon and I expect much cheaper if you know where to look. A week’s average food bill in the UK of £34. If I had very little money, I would choose to give up a weeks food in order to gain the connection with the arts, entertainment, sport and news this window onto the world opens.

The second crisis of confidence occurred when a public speaker announced that there was no absolute poverty in the UK. According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation there are 3.8 million people in the UK who are destitute, i.e. cannot meet their basic needs. In my local area there are children who are going to bed in a cold home on an empty stomach.

We are all entitled to our views but there were incorrect facts and careless words used. After lengthy consideration, I contacted the public speaker, gently asked for the definition of ‘absolute poverty’ used, and sent the figures. The response has been exemplary and a correction published.

It has not been an easy choice. My inbox today had the poverty stats for India, where of course the situation is far worse, but if my neighbours down the road are in poverty should I ignore them and send something to India? Who is my neighbour in this global village, where people’s desperate faces flood my inbox every day.

My choice is to do my best to follow the advice to act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

I cannot solve the world’s problems but I can choose to research websites I am familiar with and speak out. Next week, I will tackle the friend who thinks that those in poverty should sit in silence at home watching the rest of us go to the theatres, concerts, sports events and shopping malls that they themselves cannot afford.

I am a writer of contemporary fiction. My characters are drawn from the stories of people I have met on mission in South Sudan but are entirely fictional. The struggles of families and the impact of the bitter conflict on their lives are real. South Sudan was fighting against the Khartoum government throughout the 1990’s. War and trauma have affected three generations.

Available on Amazon in both an eBook and paperback.