This morning a map showing areas where covid is flaring made me curious how it compares to a map of poverty. Then a haunting photo of a child caught my heart…

What allows me to turn away?
What is at work in my personal biology
that lets me shield myself from seeing and feeling reality?
What let’s me carry on, focus on my concerns, my family’s concerns, and stop there?
Am I brave enough, committed enough, caring enough to find these places in me?
To feel them, to know them, to recognize, to uproot them?
Do I believe another world is possible?
Do I believe there is enough goodness in me and other humans? That our hearts aren’t total stone, and we can wake up to our collective reality… and do something?

Poverty is not the result of an individual’s choices. It’s constructed by our society and is maintained by the individual choices of all of us. May this be part of our waking up. May we find the courage to do life differently.