The GOD problem

Lyngviulf Richardsson

So here I am, minding my own business on my twice weekly trip to Newark, NJ. Newark, like most of this once great state, has
fallen victim to the savage filth of the majority of it’s more recent inhabitants since the 1960’s. I am waiting for my bus to my
$8.00 an hour job. The bus cost’s me almost $200.00 a month Do the math, I am not doing this for the money.

This is not a job that I have worked long and hard to obtain, but a job that is being forced down my throat because of a few bad
choices several years back. It is a job that my government would rather me take then the 100K plus a year work I have been
trained to do. A perfectly good job for the person I am about to meet.

A woman approaches and asks me a question about the bus. I could have been rude, perhaps I should have ignored her. I do
however believe respect is a two way street and I choose to show respect until proven she is not worthy. I answer her as best I
can and return to my starting at the passing traffic. She continues to make small talk before pulling out her cell phone and
making a call. I cannot help but overhear her inquire on her monthly food stamp allotment. She is arguing that $60.00 a month
is not enough. She can’t survive on that and thought she was getting more. She ends the call and makes some primate like
grunts. Why she decides that I am in need of her conversation or that I remotely care is beyond me but the small talk grows.
She tells me that “it aint worth workin for a livin”. Somehow I am unable to resist where this conversation may go so I reply
with a short “really?” She then tells me that she has a minimum wage job at the airport and since she started working she
cannot get welfare and her monthly food stamp allotment has been cut way down. She no longer get’s government health care
and her job does not provide any so she has to waste her valuable time in the emergency room to get medical care. This is
almost comical.

After listening to her rant I decide to humor myself. I tell her a bit about my situation, my bus expense, what I make and how I
survive. I tell her I know many people hurt and unemployed by their regular careers who found two or more lower paying jobs
to make ends meet. I tell her that I cannot even get assistance right now and even if I could, I feel better making it on my own
the having the government more involved in my life. Her reply: “God will make it right, he makes everything right, Ill win me the
lottery, God will make that happen and all will be good. I aint workin no two jobs for nobody. God will make it better for me. “

Wow, I am between speechless and horrified. I tell her that God cant work for her, we all need to take care of ourselves and
stop depending on the government and god to save us. And, well, here it comes, she called me a racist and walked away. As she
was walking I heard her say that God will save me.

This can go in a few different directions with this. Ill focus on the God will make it better comment. This is one of the major
problems I see with many of these religions. Everybody relies in God to do everything. Money is tight, drop a few bucks in the
collection basket and pray. How can you find any sense in that? Things are tight, go make things happen. Tighten the financial
belt. Find a second job, go back to school. People need to depend on themselves and stop depending on and blaming
everything and everyone for their problems. Take responsibility for your actions, learn from your mistakes and do what you
must to make ends meet.

By the way, God didn’t save me, I have to return to that slum again Monday.

Hail the Ancestors! Hail the folk! Hail the future!