April 16, 2010
Taking the Time to Make a Difference
Getting from here to there
BY PAUL R. LEINGANG
(Listen to Paul read this column | Weekly podcast)
Sometimes, it is all about getting there.
From the 1950s commercials to “See the USA in your Chevrolet” to travel ads today promising that “Getting there is half the fun,” our culture has given us ample encouragement to enjoy the process of getting from one place to another.
That thought came to me during a recent conversation with a friend. I called to talk with him about the upcoming meeting of our local social justice organization, Congregations Acting for Justice and Empowerment.
One of the issues explored by CAJE is an Affordable Housing Trust Fund. That’s not always easy to explain, but the simple part is that a fund already established by the City of Evansville ought to have funds put into it. Why have an account if you don’t use it?
The Affordable Housing Trust Fund is to be administered by a board, whose members would be able to direct money to landlords to fix up rental properties, or to pay for construction costs, or just to help keep rents low enough for working people trying to live in a decent home while supporting their families.
But the conversation I had with a friend had to do with transportation. I had called his house in the early evening on a recent day, and left a phone message. He called back a little later to tell me he had stopped by to see his father on his way home from work.
That is when I began to realize how much the two of us depend on having our own transportation. He has a reliable vehicle. My wife and I each have one. None of us would do much of what we have to do, or want to do, if we had to rely on public transportation.
The term, “public transportation,” suggests that it ought to serve the public. But here in this part of southwestern Indiana, much of the public is not being served. I don’t think that is because of ill will, but rather, just because the real needs of the public have not been observed by those who have the ability to make things better.
Not perfect. But better.
The immediate — and extremely un-Christian — reaction among some people (some who comment at newspaper and web sites in disdain for others in our community) is that “these people should get off their rear-ends and go to work.” That’s exactly the point.
A better public transportation system would help people get to available jobs, vocational training and health care services — and even just visit a relative in a different part of town.
* * *
In the time of Jesus, transportation was accomplished by beasts of burden across the land and boats across the lakes and sea. Everyone else had to walk.
In early Indiana, churches were built in towns one day’s horseback or buggy ride from each other. Much of Europe developed along train tracks. Most of America developed along highways.
Maybe these observations are overly general, but in many cases, the reality is clear. For many individuals and families here today, the challenge of going from here to there is difficult, and at times insurmountable.
Research done by CAJE representatives discovered that an early question on many job applications cuts straight to the point: Do you have reliable transportation? If your answer is no, your application is put aside, no matter how perfectly your skills match what is needed for an available job.
The answer is not to tell someone in such a situation to get off his rear-end. The answer is to adjust and expand available public transportation to meet the needs of the public.
* * *
If you follow the Gospel call to feed the hungry and visit the sick, today may be the day you should examine how to help your neighbors feed their own families, take better care of their health and visit their relatives.
That’s how you can make a difference.
Comments are welcome at office@cfm.org or the Christian Family Movement, P.O. Box 925, Evansvsille, IN 47706-0925