he's 72 and he's homeless. he's a legal citizen, but his green card got stolen and so we're waiting for a new one to come in the mail. until it does, he is without id and without id, you're kind of stuck. he's also an alcoholic. and when he drinks he gets depressed and suicidal and rambles on and on about his daughter who has passed away and his wife who has also passed. he asks why he is left and why he is in his position. he blames himself. he talks about his past, but does not blame it, he simply states the facts. and when he gets sober, he's gentle and kind. but today, the social worker at the hospital where i spent 7.5 hours trying to get him admitted today looked at me and told me that he was hopeless. that his constant alcohol problem and the related health problems all equal up to him never having a chance. she had decided to write him off. the social worker's tone today reminded me of that of ebenezer scrooge in a christmas carol--when he harshly criticizes the men taking up a collection from the poor. after retorting harshly that his taxes paid for poor houses and prison's, the charity collectors comment that the services for the poor are so terrible that they would rather die than utilize them, scrooge replies "then they had better do it and reduce the surplus population!"
you see, there was a terrible outcry in the nation when universal healthcare was suggested. the government has no right to pick and choose who lives or what treatment people get! rumors of death panels, decreased healthcare options and a general downgrade to a lower standard were posed as terrible outcomes of this possible system. and while i do not know if these things would happen, i think we miss a terrible point when defending our "right" to healthcare. the current system already picks and chooses who lives and who dies. who deserves a chance, and who should just be discharged to the streets to defend for themselves.
but i have digressed into yet another fit of frustration. i came home in a mood. and as i was discussing with a housemate this "social worker" who caused my furry i lamented on how anyone could just write someone off. i proclaimed loudly that i may be naive, but i would rather be naive than bitter and that no person--no matter how long they have been an alcoholic--deserves the lack of grace and the lack of encouragement that she was offering. "everyone deserves a second or third or millionth chance!" i indignantly declared. "i just know one thing! i pray to God that i am never like that social worker!"
and then it hit me. i was just like that pharisee in luke 18--the one who loudly thanks God that he is not like the sinners he sees around him. our tendency is to swing the other way, and thank God that we are not like the pharisee. the point is they are both wrong. and as i stood in my indignant, self-righteous state i forgot one thing. that she deserves as much grace as my client.
i think that injustice and ungrace frustrates God as much (so...probably more) than it frustrates me. i'm sure He looks down on our systems (capitalist, communist, socialist--all systems of exploitation) and says "how do they not get it?". He sent Christ to die that so we may extend grace. to the homeless alcoholic and the bitter social worker alike. as Christians, it is our job to always extend grace. for God always extends grace to us.
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