Telling a 6 yr. old about poverty

Our church participates in the national Christmas service project called "Operation Christmas Child" in which plastic shoeboxes are filled with presents for a boy or a girl who receive the box via Christian airmail.

Recently I was preparing to go shopping for the items to go in the shoebox we were going to donate, and was explaining to my shopping partner--my 6 year old son--why we were going to buy these gifts for a 6 year old boy in another country. "Well, a lot of other countries don't have the stores we have. Remember when I went to Haiti not long ago? Many of their villages don't have stores even as big as that gas station store over there." And then I tried to explain how some parents were only able to make 1/3 or 1/4 or 1/10 of the money I make, and so their children may only get 1/3 or 1/10 the number of presents he gets...including some that don't get any at all.

Then it hit me that this was a lot for a six year old to take in!
And THEN it hit me that it's a lot for the six year old to take in who doesn't get a present but knows that others do.

So, here's a little tidbit: If you ever have to explain poverty to a 6 year old, be sure to buy everything we've been putting off buying up until that point BEFORE giving the explanation. Because afterwards it's going to be pretty tough to justify a lot of those expenses! :)

Appalachia and you

I'm getting ready to go to Good Works, a ministry in Athens, Ohio to what would technically be called--for the most part--low income people in Appalachia. I was born in Appalachia, and lived the first 15 years of my life in Appalachia, so I suppose I should expect to see a lot of people I'm related to...

The funny thing is that while Appalachia has certain stereotypes--some of them good (beautiful scenery, hometown feel, wilderness) and some of them questionable (yes, I have all my teeth; no I'm not married to my sister; no, I don't drive a pickup truck)--the ministry to the poor of Appalachia is remarkably similar to the ministry to much of the rest of the nation.

Once I was on a trip from an "urban" region of Appalachia (relatively speaking) to a "rural" area of Appalachia (as in, yes some of the homes have dirt floors...really). Any outsider would say, "you idiots! There's no place to work here! There's no future life for your children! You're in poverty here...so MOVE!" Of course, there are some people in Appalachia who are making some very poor choices that are causing terrible poverty, and others who are enslaved in a system that brings about hunger. But, moving is probably not a necessary answer--and they know that, because they response to the idea usually goes something like this:

"My parents are here, my grandparents are here, my friends I've known for my whole life are here. My brother's buried over there in that cemetery. The owners of that store will let me pay for stuff a little late if I have to. The most beautiful sight in the world is on top of that ridge, at dawn, in winter with the snow in the valley. Five generations of us have survived here...and we will too."

In that they're saying, "I'm not going to play the game of life by the rules of what is deemed to be popular culture. There are things more important."

There's something noble about that.