(Note from the editor: This article originated as a photo essay for a public school project and appears with edits. While you’ll see a charitable organization’s name in a photo, no endorsement is intended.)
It’s always been true that people in many places around the world lack the necessities of food and shelter. Also true is the fact that, right now, many people in our country focus on big efforts to help support the AIDS problem in Africa and other international causes that can be seen in the news. While these are good things to give attention to, they’re not the only things we should look at.
A very real problem is that people—you and I—can’t see that there is more than just AIDS and worldwide issues that need us; people in our own neighborhoods don’t have enough clothes and shoes to keep them warm.
Everyday we drive by the big green boxes labeled “Clothes & Shoes.” It’s easy to think that this type of donation won’t matter—or wonder if those clothes will actually get to someone in need. So rather than notice these boxes and the needs they represent, people get lazy and only focus on themselves.
Why?
Because they can’t see through a dirty, locked up window. And that window is their heart.
So, if everyone could break the glass so they can better see, and more fully realize, the amount of hurt inside this community (no matter where you live), the outcome would be significant.
The needs we can address aren’t only across oceans. The opportunity to do something might be as close as across a parking lot.
It all depends on where you look…
Inspiration for my essay and the pictures that I took came from the words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 25:36, “I needed clothes and you clothed me.”
Original photographs and artist’s statement submitted for the 2007 “Reflections” project, Carl Sandburg Junior High School, Rolling Meadows, IL.
Copyright © 2007 Promiseland.
