She stood at the counter in the check out line, attempting to contain her two year old from grabbing a chocolate bar from the stand. She soothed her crying infant for a moment with a pacifier and called to her two other sons and daughter, "I forgot the Cheerios; could you please go and find the big box and bring it back to this counter? Go together and come back right away."
"You have your hands full," I commented.
The woman chuckled. " Yes, they're a lot but they're great," she told me as she began to unload her cart. "We're both out ofwork and we've moved again because our building was burned out in a fire. My husband and I are doing the best we can. There's not a lot of work out there. We're struggling but the kids are happy even with just a few extras." The kids came back with Cheerios. The woman finished unloaded her cart and zipped her EBT card through the machine.
"And we pay taxes for this," another person muttered, just loud enough for other customers to hear.
The woman did not respond but her face told a thousand stories.
I was reminded of an article that I read on the Patheos website several days ago and remembered the poignant song Hard Times Come Again No More by Stephen Foster, which poses the reflective questions that urge us toward compassion and the plight of the poor. One of my favorite renditions may be listened to and viewed on a You Tube by James Taylor and Yo Yo Ma. Another may be found and heard on Stoney Landscapes by Rory Cooney, Gary Daigle and Theresa Donahoo.
"The joys and hopes, the grief and agnuish of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted, are the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the followers of Chrsit as well." Gaudium et Spes, 1.
Hard Times Come Again No More by Stephen Foster
1. Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears,
While we all sup sorrow with the poor;
There's a song that will linger forever in our ears;
Oh hard times come again no more.
Chorus:
Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,
Hard Times, hard times, come again no more
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door;
Oh hard times come again no more.
2.While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay,
There are frail forms fainting at the door;
Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say
Oh hard times come again no more.
Chorus
3.There's a pale drooping maiden who toils her life away,
With a worn heart whose better days are o'er:
Though her voice would be merry, 'tis sighing all the day,
Oh hard times come again no more.
Chorus
4.Tis a sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave,
Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore
Tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave
Oh hard times come again no more.
Chorus