We Can Make a Difference!

This past week our congregation took a trip to Immokalee. We spent our time listening to a typical day of a tomato picker. We heard the story of the sweat, muscles, and time it takes for these children of God to do something we take for granted – as we sit back and enjoy the tomato on our burger or BLT.

We heard the cry of how it is a thankless job. They pray daily to find work – it is not guaranteed. There is no medical, dental, or retirement. They receive .42 cents per bucket that holds 32 pounds of tomatoes. This means to make $50.00 a day they need to pick over 2 tons of tomatoes a day. I write these statistics as I sit in a comfy desk chair making over $50 a day with benefits. I worry every year if I’ll get my cost of living – or if I’m lucky a raise – and the farm workers pay rate hasn’t changed since the 1970’s.

Sometimes we don’t know about an injustice, but when we hear about one it is easy for us to recognize. We can identify injustice. Injustice angers us. Yet, we feel like there is nothing we can do. We say, “Sadly, that’s how the world works and I don’t have the power to change it. I can’t change the mind of the growers. I can’t change the way people are treated. I am a Christian who worships – I care – I pray – but other than that these things are out of my control.” And when things seem too large or impossible or out of our control – power changes into doubt. This is when we need to look to the witness of others who didn’t let the “impossible” stop them from making a difference.

It was Mother Theresa who one day felt it on her heart to build an orphanage. She shared the dream with her superiors and they asked the expected question, "Where will you get the money to build an orphanage?" "Well," Mother Theresa responded, "I have three dollars." "Sister Theresa," her superiors disapproved, "you cannot build an orphanage with three dollars." "I know," she said, smiling, "I can’t build an orphanage with three dollars, but with God and three dollars. I can do anything. Don’t let us imagine that we are too poor or too stupid or too ignorant or too obscure to do any real good in the world God has placed us. If you bring no gift how can God use it?"

To make a difference in the life of a farm worker check out:
http://www.ciw-online.org/