Someone Really Does Care

THOUSANDS of people show that they really care.  They do not take the callous,, selfish view that the problems of others are none of their concern.  Instead, they do all that they can-sometimes even putting their own lives at risk-to alleviate suffering.  This is an immense task, one   that is complicated by powerful forces beyond their control.

Such factors as greed, political intrigue, wars, and natural disasters can frustrate even "the most enlightened and determined efforts to eradicate hunger,"  says one aid worker.  Eliminating hunger is only one of many problems that caring people face.  They also battle things like disease, poverty, injustice, and the immense suffering caused by war.  But are they winning?

The chief executive of one aid agency said that those who make such "enlightened and determine efforts" to alleviate hunger and pain are like the compassionate  Samaritan described in Jesus Christ's illustration.  (Luke 10:29-37)  But whatever they do, he said, the number of victims just keeps on growing.  So he asked:  "What should the good Samaritan do if he travels the same route every day for several years and finds another victim of the muggers each week at the roadside?"

It would be easy to succumb to what has been described as  'the deadly illness of donor fatigue' and simply give up in frustration. To their credit, those who really care do not give up.  (Galatians 6:9, 10)  For example,  a man who wrote to Britain's Jewish Telegraph commended Jehovah's Witnesses, who during the time of Nazi Germany "helped thousands of Jews to survive the miseries of Auschwitz."  When food was scarce," the writer said, "they shared their bread with our (Jewish) brothers and sisters!"  The Witnesses kept doing what they could with the resources they had.

Yet, the reality is that no amount of sharing of bread will a complete end to human suffering.  This is in no way meant to devalue what compassionate people  have done.  Any action that properly lessons suffering is worthwhile.  Those Witnesses eased the pain of fellow prisoners somewhat, and Nazism was eventually destroyed.  (Note: there are people that care that aren't Jehovah's Witnesses as well)  However, the world system that causes such oppression survives, and uncaring people still abound.  Indeed, "there is a generation whose teeth are swords and whose jawbones are slaughtering knives, to eat up the afflicted ones off the earth and the poor ones from among mankind."  (Proverbs 30:14)  Likely, you wonder why this is the case.

Next time: Why Poverty and Oppression?

The Watchtower, 1999