Thursday, September 25, 2008

Last summer several social justice organizations in the greater Houston area began distributing bottles of water to day laborers. These individuals were often working outdoors in the hot weather with little to no potable water. To me this was an act of mercy and I contributed 3 cases of bottled water for distribution. However when I tried to elicit help from some of my liberal contacts I received a great amount of resistance. They were reluctant to contribute water in plastic bottles due to environmental impact. So while they debated and tried to find acceptable solutions they were not helping the day laborers. Ultimately I joined volunteers from other faith traditions and distributed the water bottles. If we allow our idealism to blind us to the need of others we are only serving our own delusions.

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