Frustrating! The food give-away went well and we only ended up with 10 boxes left over at the end of the day. That’s less than 5% of those that signed up that didn’t get a box. Much better than last year. And the boxes included toys and books for the children as well as staples like rice, potatoes and meat. So what’s frustrating? It’s the continuing prevalence of machismo. At least 90% of the 350 recipients were women, and yet, when I would carry the boxes out to their cars, there would (sometimes) be a guy. And looking embarrassed, as he didn’t realize that someone was going to help with the groceries and would actually see him!
It didn’t happen this year as much as it did last year, but this crippling macho attitude is still around. And it’s not cultural as you might believe; I saw it happen with just as many Anglos as I did with Hispanics. The worst? A lady came in on crutches, surrounded by her children. These weren’t ‘I sprained my ankle’ crutches; these were serious, ‘this is how I live everyday’ crutches and she was moving quite slowly and deliberately. The kids and I took the food out to the car and that’s where I saw the man of the family, sitting in the drivers’ seat of the family van.
Now that I’ve had time to reflect, I have to admit that I assumed that the guy sitting in the van was able bodied. I don’t know that. Nor do I know anything at all of the life situations of those who received food yesterday. It’s all assumptions and it’s the easiest thing in the world, to criticize the poor. Especially from our vantage point, a few rungs higher on the ladder called ‘life’. Mea Culpa.
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