When I spotted an article entitled, "King Charles donates fridges and freezers to food banks," my first thought was, "Jolly decent of him," but that was quickly followed by less enthusiastic thoughts.
Reading up a bit more it seems that the king made a 'substantial personal donation' towards a fund to provide up to 800 fridges and freezers between now and the spring. Food banks see an increase in donations at this time of the year but a lot is thrown away because it can't be stored so fridges provide a solution. The King was only one of a number of funders of this scheme.
This morning I heard Good King Wenceslas on the radio. It's one of many carols that I can sing word for word, and actually is one of the easier ones to remember because it has a narrative. From the comfort of his palace the king sees a beggar, asks his slave who the man is, and resolves to take food and a source of heating to the man.
wealth or rank possessing,
you who now do bless the poor
shall yourselves find blessing.
Wenceslas was a Duke of Bohemia in the 10th century who was venerated after his death for his generosity to widows, orphans, prisoners and the afflicted. He was, of course, doing as we are instructed in the bible. James in his letter writes: Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.
The trouble is that, for some people, a generous gift at Christmas to the orphanage makes up for the bad treatment of their staff the rest of the year. Okay, I'm getting a bit Dickensian here but you get what I mean?
A sop to ease a conscience, an easy way to buy into heaven (as if God is fooled), an act done in secret that is suddenly front page news. I'm not accusing the King of any of these things by the way.
But here you have the monarch giving money to a charity that gives free food to people who can't afford to buy it. In a first world country in the twenty-first century. Does it sit easily with him?
I know the monarch isn't allowed to be political but I don't think hungry people is even a political issue. It's a moral one. It's "how can this be happening?" People are having to choose between food and heating. Churches, community centres, all sorts of places are opening their doors and saying, "Come and keep warm here if you can't afford to do it at home."
Each week the Prime Minister has an audience with the King. I sincerely hope the King uses that opportunity to speak up for the poor. He can't be proud to be king of a country where people go hungry, where the poor are having to rely on the charity of the rich to survive.
It grates.
6 comments:
So true. Here in the US, too. Congratulations to people helping with the hungry without much shame that they should have to, that there are hungry at all in a wealthy country. Powerful people often are insulated from the grinding daily reality of poverty, can't really grasp it.
The bit I really like about wenceslas is that his footprints are warm!
Way too many people in the U.S. go without food––and housing. It's very upsetting. Plenty of older houses/buildings could be renovated for the homeless. It's also upsetting, though, when homeless people refuse assistance.
Love,
Janie
You pose some hard thoughts and questions.
I agree that Food Banks and charities of that ilk do good work, but their presence should not let the Government of any country "off the hook." All poverty issues like living wages, houselessness, food security etc. are best addressed by government policies and priorities. These issues should be alleviated by the state, not by individual charity which is unstable at best.
A community fridge here allows people to leave items for people which the food bank can’t handle. Governments haven’t done their part to protect the people against food insecurity. Frustrating for sure.
L'etet cest moi. The state is us. Give what you can. Take only what you need.
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