A Political 23rd Psalm

After Dad’s death, I was looking through his belongings and found something that I’m sure Mom cut from the paper.  I could not find a date on the clipping, but the reverse side was advertising ground beef for 39 cents per pound.  Take a look.

Society is my shepherd; I shall not work.
It alloweth me to lie down on a feather bed.
It leadest me beside the still factories; it destroyeth my ambition.
It leadeth me in the paths of a goldbrick for politics sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of inflation and deficit spending,
I will fear no evil, for the welfare agencies are with me.
Their generosity and their staff, they comfort me.
They prepared the requisitions that filleth my table,
By mortgaging the earnings of my grand children.
My head is filled with mirth that my cup runneth over without effort;
Surely, the taxpayers shall care for me all the days of my life,
And I shall dwell in the house of a parasite forever.

So it seems concern about government programs is an old issue.  But this “psalm” gives me concern.  I’m concerned that someone believed this sarcastic rewrite of the 23rd Psalm was the proper response to the poor.  In fact, to me, being “poor” means that I lack something, and we all lack something.  Usually people think being poor is lacking money or material goods, but I can also lack friendships, understanding, spirituality, listening skills, hope, self-esteem, humility, job skills, good health, and a hundred other things.  We are all poor, and we all need help.

I don’t see this song as helping anything.  It seems to judge rather than understand and redeem.  It seems to forget that we each can learn something from one another.  It seems to forget that each of us has some  kind of poverty, even if I deny it exists.  It ignores that I have little room to mock and degrade people who are poor in a different way than me.

I wager to say that most of us have some kind of poverty that seems to cling to us.  A kind of poverty that sucks the strength and hope from us.  We  try to fill that lack by hard work, wrong choices, determination, trying again, and failing again.  Getting out of poverty, all kinds of poverty, can be a struggle.  The struggle isn’t always just with ourselves, as this “psalm” implies.  The struggle may be with systems, lack of support, or no foothold to start the journey.   That’s where we all need to help.  Perhaps the worst kind of poverty is a lack of friendships.  My friendships have aided me in many a problem, and this aid started with my family.  Life can be  incredibly hard without a healthy, uplifting family.  Thankfully I only know that fact secondhand, many people know it up close and personal.

So the best thing I can do is to help those who are ready to help themselves and pray for those who aren’t.  If each one of us helped the other, I believe we would see less poverty of all kinds.  We would  have richer lives if for no other reason than that we would have each other.

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Dad’s Obituary

Phipps, Willard Este, age 99, of Friendship Village, Trotwood passed away on Saturday, December 22, 2012. He was preceded in death by his parents George and Alice Lenora (Little) Harvey, beloved wife Alice Electa (Harshbarger) Phipps, granddaughter Joy Beth (Martindale) Jackson, five brothers, one half-brother, and three sisters. He is survived by his loving family, daughter and son-in-law Wilda and Robert Martindale-Greenville, sons and daughter-in-law Gary and June Phipps-Washington Court House, David Phipps-Englewood, grandchildren Christine and Dan Null, Jennifer Phipps, Greg and Heidi Phipps, Michael Martindale, great-grandchildren, Faith and Hope Jackson, Grace Null, Garret Phipps and several nieces and nephews. Willard spent most of his childhood in his birthplace, Menifee County, Kentucky. Moving into Darke County as a teen, he graduated from Franklin HS(now Franklin Monroe) in 1933. He wed Alice Harshbarger in August of 1940, they settled on a farm near Pleasant Hill in 1944. Besides farming, Willard sold DeKalb seed corn. In addition to raising three children, he and Alice mentored troubled youth from Dayton. He was an active member of the Potsdam Missionary Church serving in various positions of leadership. In 1998 he and Alice moved to Friendship Village Retirement Community where he continued to serve and encourage others.Willard will be greatly missed by the many people whose lives he touched. Funeral services will be held at 10:00 A.M. on Friday, December 28, 2012 at the Jackson-Sarver Family Funeral Home, 1 South Main Street, Pleasant Hill, with burial to follow at Pleasant Hill Cemetery. Friends may call on Thursday from 5:00-7:00 P.M. at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to: VITAS Innovative Hospice Care of Dayton, 3055 Kettering Blvd. #320, Dayton, Ohio 45439.

My Dad’s Death

As you may have known, my Dad has been declining in health.  In the past two weeks he has fallen twice, both times resulting in head injury.  Hospice has been providing 24-hour care.

This morning the nurse told me that signs seem to indicate that “death has started”.  I contacted my brother and sister, and we all gathered in his room for some scripture reading, prayers, and singing some old hymns.  Dad may not have sung aloud, but his lips followed the hymns word-for-word.  We left his room to let him rest at 4pm tonight, Saturday 22 December 2012.

We each went home at different times, but we all expected to return for a visit tomorrow.  That was not to be.  Dad died at 6:25pm tonight.

We, his children, are sad at his death, but thankful for his life.  We’re so grateful for the final time of worship we had together.  And we’re so glad his last days had little suffering and many kind friends.

I will post his obituary and funeral arrangements on both Facebook and my blog as soon they are complete.  I just wanted to let you know as soon as possible about Dad’s entrance into glory.