A nation of Scrooges? 1
Running Head: A NATION OF SCROOGES?
A Nation of Scrooges?
Keynote Presentation at the First Annual Religion and Disability Issues Symposium
Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio (February, 2001)
By Jeff McNair, Ph.D.,
California Baptist University, Riverside, CA
Abstract
The following is a transcript of the keynote presentation made by Dr. Jeff McNair, at the First Annual Religion and Disability Issues Symposium, at Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio on February 26, 2001. Dr. McNair uses a dialogue from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol as a framework for discussing the responsibility of citizens for their neighbor, in particular neighbors with disabilities. A challenge is presented for the listener (reader) to consider whether he/she is Scrooge-like in his/her interactions with individuals who are disabled or disenfranchised.
Key Words: Community integration, responsibility for my neighbor, disability issues, policy
A Nation of Scrooges?
In Charles Dickens’ famous A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is approached by agents of a charitable foundation. In response to their request for a donation, he remarks,
“Are there no prisons? . . .And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge . . .”Are they still in operation? . . .The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigor, then?” . . . “Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,” . . .”I wish to be left alone” . . . “since you asked me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer” . . . “I help support the establishments I have mentioned – they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there.” (p. 18, 19)
These words helped to establish Scrooge as one of the most infamous villains of western literature. The label of “Scrooge” is used as an insult, implying one lacks generosity and caring. However, in America, Scrooge’s assumption that because he pays taxes he is therefore removed from any individual responsibility to the disabled or disenfranchised, may have become the standard operating procedure, the accepted practice, the “state of the art.” Like Scrooge, Americans may assume that their taxes are adequately providing for those in need. Scrooge’s problem was that he had no direct contact with the poor (in his case). Now if the poor were regularly in his midst, if they were somehow a part of his life, if he developed relationships with poor people, then he would have recognized that the state only provides a subsistence level of support. Scrooge would have seen that much more is needed. As Dickens’ gentleman noted, “ . . . they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body.” This knowledge might also have caused him to be held responsible on some level, for their well being.
Has America become a nation of Scrooges? From the White House to the Congress to Main Street, Local Town, Americans have substituted personal concern for their neighbors with the an Orwellian notion of government as our big brother who looks after us and provides for us. It seems human services are the government’s obligation and our right. If I am not being cared for properly, I can blame my congress person or the president as it is his or her responsibility. Community responsibilities are scarce at best. Communities have been replaced by political power bases, caring community members by professional service workers or service providers, dependable friends by acquaintances or chat room regulars. The notion that my local community has some responsibility for my well being, solely because I am a member of the community is tantamount to foolishness. In fact, the move toward personal peace and individualism described by Robert Bellah and his colleagues in Habits of the Heart has even invaded the family to the point that individual family members are more concerned about what is best for him or herself than what is best for the family.
Even in Scrooge’s day, the local community was largely held responsible for its own disenfranchised. The Poor Law, established in the 1500’s coincided with the change over in Britain from Catholicism to the Church of England. This secularization of religion, caused a change in deference from Pope to King. The result was also a secularization of the religious charity which had been carried out by monks as well as individuals within churches. Parliament then assumed the position of influencing how local churches should care for their “dependents.” Laws were passed giving local parish officials the ability to increase church contributions (freely made in the past), with taxes in order to serve the needy. This early secularization of human services found its way to the United States with new world settlers.
Scrooge’s workhouses, also know as almshouses, were institutions often built upon humanitarian principles where the poor could go to both earn a wage and learn vocational skills. Clearly the predecessor of currently embraced work programs, they too found their way to the United States. The Poor Law was one of the earliest permutations of welfare. Lieby (1978) states that these English patterns remained our fundamental provision for the needy until the Great Depression of the 1930’s.
Secularization also influenced the professionalization of human services. The 1800’s witnessed the birth of professional societies whose exclusive focus was pauperism, its study and prevention. But secularization is not an evil to be opposed. Religious groups themselves led the way in advocating for governmental social services, as it was thought that only through government, would adequately funded social services be developed.
Even this brief overview demonstrates how human service delivery progressed from local church based groups, to organized charitable groups, to state delivered supports. With each step in this progression, while something was gained, something was lost. What has been gained is a variety of dependable services provided to individuals, largely at no cost to them. But what was lost is caring and community connectedness. The individual helper was replaced by the government, and the mindset that it is some highly trained person’s responsibility to help my neighbor. The reality of the situation is that both are required, both are necessary.
It was Alexis De Toqueville in the late 1700’s who stated, “Under democracy’s sway it is not especially the things accomplished by the public administration that are so great.” The main attribute which De Toqueville praises is democracy’s ability to get out of the way while facilitating the citizen good works. Later in Democracy in America, he speaks of a “restless activity . . . superabundant force . . .energy never found elsewhere” which can indeed do wonders if given free reign to act. Additionally, it will only rise up to act in the absence of something better. That is, it can be stifled if it perceives it is not needed.
You are reminded of my contention that the standard operating procedure for most Americans relative to the needs of disenfranchised individuals is Scrooge’s original response; that of an infamous villain of western literature. “I pay taxes.” In other words, “It is the government’s responsibility, it is not my personal responsibility.”
I remember a woman at my church who’s husband was jailed for embezzlement. As a leader in the church at that time, I was contacted to help her. In an attempt to excuse myself from responsibility, the following words which came out of my own mouth, “I have no training in working with families of felons.” The words had hardly been spoken, before I realized how indoctrinated I had become. I had bought the lie that it was some trained individual’s responsibility to help this family. This was in spite of the fact that help that was needed was obvious. There was the need for emotional support, babysitting and help with finding a job. Special efforts needed to be made so that the family would not be ostracized. Yet there I was, hesitating to help as I thought about the governmental services to whom I might refer the family.
Other examples quickly come to mind. If an acquaintance is out of a job, I think of how I might help him. However, if he is in a wheelchair, I wonder if he has contacted the Department of Rehabilitation. In a real life situation, I knew of a disabled woman who had been raped. However, her care provider just took her back to her group home after the incident because it was after hours, and the Department of Developmental Disabilities was not open at the time.
Without De Toqueville’s superabundant force, the end result is a tax funded human service system which is top heavy. A human service system which is over-professionalized and specialist dependent. Being top heavy and thoroughly professional, it is overworked and understaffed. It’s face to the public, however, is that you need us to live your lives.
Three Quotes
The interaction between Scrooge and the charitable agents reveals a great deal. Using three subsequent quotes from the dialogue between Scrooge and the charitable agents, let us briefly examine the plight of the disenfranchised and what has become the American response. Please also consider how faith groups might contribute to the solution.
“Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.”
The first observation of the men collecting for charity, is, “Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.” That is, for whatever reason those in need often shun help. The question to ask is whether they are shunning help, or simply help in the form in which it is offered. Clearly there are those with mental illness, addictions or other issues who as a direct result of their disability cannot recognize assistance.
I am acquainted with a homeless individual who’s mantra is, “I need a program.” On one point, several people rallied around him and developed what they thought was a very good program. Their approach included leasing an apartment that was actually a small house for him over a six month period. They then linked him with psychiatric assistance where he was evaluated and given a regimen of counseling and medication. Others provided furnishings for the apartment and food staples, down to cat food for the man’s cat. In the end, the man refused the psychiatric help, refused to take the medication, turned his apartment into a storage unit to the point that he couldn’t even enter the apartment to use the facilities. He was ultimately evicted partly because he used his yard and the basement of the adjoining building for further storage. When confronted about his lack of cooperation with the help provided, he responded, “You don’t get it! That approach was destined to fail from the start. The psychiatrist didn’t know what he was doing, and renting only contributes to the coffers of the city’s wealthy, destabilizing America’s economy. I need something more than an arm’s distance approach. I need someone to roll up their sleeves and do something. I need someone to take me into their home, to let me live with their family.” It is debatable as to how many people this man represents, but clearly he would virtually rather die than submit himself to the kind of program (a program which seemed great to me) that was developed for him.
O’Henry made a similar observation in his story, “The Cop and the Anthem.” A homeless, perhaps mentally ill man named Soapy, seeks to be arrested so he can spend the winter at the island (jail) and out of the cold. O’Henry writes,
“. . .And now the time was come. On the previous night, three Sabbath newspapers, distributed beneath his coat, about his ankles and over his lap, had failed to repulse the cold as he slept on his bench near the spurting fountain in the ancient square. So the Island loomed big and timely in Soapy’s mind. He scorned the provisions made in the name of charity for the city’s dependents. In Soapy’s opinion, the Law was more benign than Philanthropy. There was the endless round of institutions, municipal and eleemosynary, on which he might set out and receive lodging and food accordant with the simple life. But to one of Soapy’s proud spirit the gifts of charity are encumbered. If not in coin you must pay in humiliation of spirit for every benefit received at the hands of philanthropy. As Caesar had his Brutus, every bed of charity must have its toll of a bath, every loaf of bread its compensation of a private and personal inquisition. Wherefore it is better to be a guest of the law, which, though conducted by rules, does not meddle unduly with a gentleman’s private affairs.” (p. 61)
These two vignettes raise an interesting question. Do some people choose to be disenfranchised? I am confident that the overwhelming answer is no. However, there are those who like my acquaintance described earlier, choose homelessness through decisions they make. Deep down we resonate with Soapy’s independence. His cheeky ability to manipulate the system causes up to shake our heads and smile. However, until Soapy gets help, he will continue on in his homeless existence. His life will ultimately end as a victim of violence or disease. He will probably never know family. But like Scrooge, we may be so self-absorbed that we can see past our own front door. If such people do cross our paths, we dismiss them as incorrigible, stubborn or crazy. “Why doesn’t somebody do something?” we say. It is not until we make the effort to find out, that we recognize the quiet desperation of their lives. Ignorance truly is bliss. But life is hard and you might know it. Why? Not to live your life steeped in guilt, but rather to make a difference in the lives of others.
Our culture has placed a high premium on freedom. The idea of submission itself is untenable to many. However, submission is the correct word relative to therapeutic relationships between helpers and those being helped. Therapy is power, although not necessarily in the negative sense. Systems must make demands on those they are endeavoring to serve if they are to have any hope of changing them. A critical aspect o the helping relationship is the recognition that one individual in the relationship has the power to help, but cannot do so without the cooperation of the individual needing the help. This has been referred to as the “quid pro quo theory of human services.” That is, people must be deprived of their liberty in exchange for treatment and habilitation.