Some years before he became Pope Francis, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was talking with a friend about serving the poor. When helping people in need, he said, his first concern was material: â??Are you hungry? Here, here is something to eat.â? But poverty isnâ??t just a form of deprivation; itâ??s also a form of isolation. People always need to eat, and often they need something more, like a teacher or a job. In other words, they need other people. So â??the poor must not be perpetually marginalized,â? the cardinal warned. Instead, â??we [must] integrate them into our community.â?
I could not agree more. There is a lot of untapped potential in this country; I have seen it firsthand. In the past two years, I have traveled to 10 different communities that are fighting poverty every day, from a homeless shelter in Denver to a rehab center in San Antonio. Every person I have met has had a different story. But every story they have told has had the same message: Once people find a niche and put down roots, they draw strength from the people around them and they grow. So to expand opportunity in this country, we have to bring the poor back into our communities. And the safety net can serve as the missing link by helping people find work.
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