Nick Jimenez

Sunday, December 5, 1999

Are the poor deserving?

Every job has its perks, and the little rice bowl I hold has its share of bonuses.
   For instance, I get to listen politely while irate readers take to me to task over the phone for opinions we've written or for not endorsing their candidate. Can I help it if they're misinformed? (Just kidding, so hold the phone call.)
   I also get lots of practice in deciphering handwriting from writers of letters to the editor. In the great scheme of things, this daily puzzle, I figure, is merely payback for the years of torture I have inflicted on teachers, friends and other journalists with my own scratching. With my handwriting, I only need medical school to be a doctor.
   But my biggest perk is getting to run the Children's Christmas Appeal every year. That's the annual holiday drive that benefits children in our five-county area.
   The Appeal got its start in 1973 under the hand of Caller-Times reporter Ann Dodson. Actually, Anne and I both worked for the Times part of the Caller-Times, a distinction made vivid by those of us who worked on the now-defunct afternoon newspaper. We were proud that the Appeal, then called People-to-People, was sponsored by the Times.
   Over the years I've come to learn a lot about South Texas because of my association with the Christmas Appeal.
   The most obvious point is that poverty and its grinding effects are prevalent in South Texas. As Tolstoy wrote, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, and that's never truer than when people are poor.
   Just when you think you've read about circumstances as bad as they can be - illnesses, jobs lost, kids without beds, abandoned families, abominable living conditions - I come upon another story of desperation.
   These are real people with real problems. Hey, folks, we're not making this stuff up. The amazing thing is that these folks are our neighbors. Most of us live only a few blocks, or at most, only a few miles, from these households on the margins of society.
   But so many in these stories still retain a positive outlook on life. They may be poor in material things, but their hopes are often as bright as those of anyone who lives on Ocean Drive. And that's particularly true for the kids.
   The thing that struck me when I first accompanied a group of kids on a shopping spree paid for with contributions from Children's Christmas Appeal was that they were buying things not for themselves, but mostly for their brothers and sisters. Sure, they got toys, but those were put in the basket when other needs were met. Shoes, pants, shirts were the main items.
   Here are kids who don't have anything and they're thinking about someone else. Out of the mouths of babes.
   I'm not amazed by the generosity that comes forth each year. As readers of letters to the editor will attest, we here in South Texas are still made up of folks, thank God, who will stop to help someone in trouble on the road, or are willing to contribute when the need presents itself.
   The amount contributed grows every year. Granted, the good economic times have made it easier for readers for contribute, but that only puts in dramatic outline the point that when people have more, they will give more.
   Every year some ask the question: Just how deserving are these families? Aren't they in a pickle because of their own actions?
   The five agencies involved select the families, and these are people, for the most part, whose circumstances they know well.
   But without dismissing the question, let me say that I hope we all don't get what we "deserve." Given the usual run of human foibles, we would all deserve a lump of coal. Certainly, there ought to be healthy skepticism about any charity drive. But in the end any determination of generosity revolves around trust and faith, and taking a chance on mankind.
  

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  © 1999 Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.