Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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DECEMBER 24-30, 2014 UCW 5 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Tis the season for all sorts of sentiments and activities. For people of faith, it is a joyous and holy time of year. For many, it is a time of gatherings of family, friends and colleagues, of food and festivities. And for almost everyone, it is a time of giving and receiving, and often both, but let's concentrate on the giving side. We Americans are a generous people. We share what we have with others whose needs may be greater, or at least different, than our own. Giving is everywhere — in offices, in homes, along our streets, in our shopping areas and in private as we stroke checks and authorize charges to organizations doing work of interest to us. Sometimes we give to individuals whose situations in life have caught our attention. Interestingly, study after study confirms that while Americans with deep resources may give more dollars than those of us of lesser means, lower income people give a higher percentage of their resources than more advantaged folks, making their generosity all the more meaningful. My mailbox and my television set have exploded with pleas from all manner of good causes, as have yours, I am sure. Most poignant and painful to me are the pleas for various military veteran and wounded warrior causes. While I have great respect for their work, my heart feels heavy knowing that we American citizens who live in safety because of our military services do not support our veterans when they need us, shaming us all from Congress on down. Some people may give for charitable tax deductions allowed by state and federal law, but I prefer to believe that we give to whatever causes because we care about our fellow travelers on this earth. President George H.W. Bush, aka "41," made giving a signature issue and focused particularly on what he called "faith-based initiatives. As best I understand that concept, it means that religious groups and organizations of all stripes, colors and theologies should step forward and do all sorts of good works so that government does not have to bear that burden. It is warm and wonderful notion, and in truth, it delineates what thousands of organizations have done for generations anyway. These "helping the least of these" efforts range from quiet assistance to individuals to large scale youth programs to coordinated efforts to get homeless people off our streets and more. Our own community has such programs and hundreds of others, many of them front and center this time of year. And yet … Two crucial issues come to mind about faith- based initiatives. The first is responsibility. I have no doubt that local organizations and thousands of others throughout our land accomplish a great deal of good and that many people are better off for their efforts, including those providing the services. It is also true, though, that many of these organizations live hand to mouth, with overworked and underpaid staff. Tremendous effort goes into simply staying in existence, effort that could be spent on behalf the cause. Only a precious few very large faith-based organizations can even dream of providing such services without undue concern about keeping the doors open. That is why when human services are required on a comprehensive and long-term level, they have traditionally been delivered by government and staffed by people whose primary interests and livelihoods lie in executing such service programs. The second issue involves training and professional skills. No volunteers, however well intentioned and dedicated, can provide for the social and health care needs of people with long-standing problems of poverty, physical and mental health, addictions and other significant life issues. A compassionate society that decides to address such human problems consistently and in a collective manner has few options but to do so through programs paid for and administered by government. We Americans began making that decision around the turn of the 20th century, and despite some failures and some excesses, we have continued reaching out to our fellow citizens in such ways through state and federal governments of all political leanings. American volunteers can and have moved mountains. Think how many historic places and buildings we have preserved, how many museums we have brought to reality, how many important issues we have brought to the national consciousness. Think how many homes we have repaired and how many bodies we have warmed with food, clothes, and blankets. Think of the overall good we can do if we all bestir ourselves and volunteer in our community. But know, too, that as a nation we long ago undertook collective responsibility to and for each other, and that responsibility has become woven into the fabric of our social contract. Not even George H. W. Bush suggested we unravel it. THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET Serving Fayetteville Over 50 Years! 484-0261 1304 Morganton Rd. Mon-Sat: 6am-10pm Sun: 7am-3pm Daily Specials • Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner Fresh Seafood • Hand Cut Steaks • Homemade Desserts • Italian & Greek • Children's Menu Banquet rooms available up to 100 guests Contest&RequestLine: 910-764-1073 www.christian107.com KeepingtheMainThing...theMainThing. visitusonline FocusontheFamily 20Countdown Magazine Adventures in Odyssey MARGARET DICKSON, Contributing Writer, COMMENTS? Editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com.. 910.484.6200. Tis the Season BY MARGARET DICKSON American volunteers can and have moved mountains.