response to lovers of the poor

i'm not too good with poetry either april, but this is what i got out of it, hope it helps!

so these pompous upper class ladies from the ladies betterment league get to this place where their suppose to help the poor. so technically they're doing good by being there and helping, but it seems to me that they don't really care about the people they're helping. they see the people as objects of their charity instead of real people who are only separated from them by social status. so basically they're there for the wrong reasons and hope that other people will see them doing good and whatever. these ladies in all their prim and proper splendor know that once they have done what they set out to do, they can get the heck out of the grimy place and return to their lives of luxury and not give the poor a second thought. at one point i think they flip out because they see a rat and want to know if there is a way to find a cleaner slum so they won't have to deal with the vermin. because of this, these women seem shallow and inauthentic in their deeds because their hearts are not in the right place.


this poem addresses something that we briefly discussed earlier in orientation, and that's solidarity with those we serve. I believe fr. ken mentioned something about "service with the poor" as opposed to "service to the poor." sometimes during our service we may be forced outside of our comfort zone as we encounter "rats" and other unexpected unattractive aspects of our service. however, if we let the "rats" determine how we do our service, then chances are, we'll be just as shallow as those pompous women. we have to face these obstacles in order to overcome them. sometimes we'll have to get down right on the level as those we serve, become poor, in order to truly make a difference. in this way, we can serve "with" rather than just "to" or "for" although this seems really scary, this type of service is most often the most rewarding type.

i don't really know if this makes sense slash works in context, but this is what i was feelin

b love!