Tuesday December 19, 2000
Read: Isaiah 52:1-10
They didn't have any shoes to wear.
That wasn't the only difficulty in their lives, but maybe it was
symbolic of the way they were forced to exist. They lived in the
middle of the woods, on private property not their own, in corrugated
tin shacks. According to the government, they could not live there.
It didn't matter that the property owners allowed them to live
there; it wasn't a "black" area. If they were discovered,
soldiers would come through and forcibly remove them, leaving
them with no place to live at all. With no place to live, they
couldn't work, even at their low paying, backbreaking jobs. It
wasn't allowed.
Their houses had walls and a roof, but they only partially kept
out the cold and the rain. There were no lights, no running water,
and no floors--though it wasn't because these amenities weren't
available. The homes outside the woods had them, and in fact some
of them were quite elegant. And it wasn't deep in the heart of
some third world country. It was not too far from a well-developed
city in a very modern country.
Decent housing wasn't all that was lacking--so was decent pay
for their hard labor, opportunity to education their children,
possibility of advancement in their jobs, access to medical or
dental services, and much more!
To them we could only have been wealthy, privileged white kids.
But they were glad to see us anyway! We were signs of hope
to them. They believed that we had the power and good will
to do something. They were anxious to tell us their
stories, for they wanted us to understand their lives. They were
ready with smiles for all of our cameras to capture. But what
they really wanted us to see was that they didn't have any shoes
to wear. --JAL
Prayer: God of the oppressed, even the Christ
child was sent to a foreign land by oppressive forces. Help me
to recognize oppressive forces in far away lands and in the lives
of people I know. Help me to give up habits that cause oppression
for others. Amen.
For your meditation: Who are the oppressed? What are
the forces that oppress them? What characteristics or circumstances
make people susceptible to oppression?
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