"I mean the people need to help each other... families need to be willing to accept sacrifice as a part of life, and a part of helping humanity." YES. YES. YES. If we could go back to the art of instinctively helping one another, we wouldn't need government programs. But, so may of us have dropped the ball of genuine care.

I think they are fudging the numbers. Unemployment is higher than that, in my opinion. What they don't say is that the government jobs are being added. I agree with Wild Woman. When government starts taking from the people who earn it, and giving it to people who don't earn it, or really need it, caring stops. :(

Hi, Lynn,

Tough issue. Some say many have given up looking for work, and the percentage is much higher.

We should set the example as Christianns. Most churches help their own needy and some have food banks.

We help our family from time to time and others we know.

Many have lost homes---another thorny subject.

We need to be compassioate.

Frank

@ANVRSADDAY - When I hear of parents living in tents because they have lost their homes... even when they have children who could take them in, but they "don't want to burden them" so they don't tell, and they don't ask... it tells me how far we have fallen. Why shouldn't they ask? Why should they feel that they shouldn't ask? The Amish always provide a 'mother-in'law' cabin for their parents. It is how it used to be... the parents take care of the children and then the children take care of the parents. What has happened to us?
I have memories of my uncle who was always treated well by his grandparents even as a young man just out of the service, and so when, even as a young married man, his grandparents needed a home he took them in... They helped one another mutually. My great grandparents paid him a small amount to live on the downstairs part of his home (the basement I guess, but it wasn't like a basement at all... it had a door going out)... anyway the small amount they gave to him was less than they would pay elsewhere and enough to help him a bit in his early days. I am sure it was not all joy and fun living together but they sacrificed because it helped one another... i.e., no government handouts were taken. In a few years my great grandparents had a home of their own. It is my decided opinion that, since my uncle was now doing well, that he probably helped them with that achievement... the first home they had ever owned. They lived out their lives in that home.
I also remember my next door neighbor as a child. It was a couple, slightly older than my parents, who had had no children of their own... they were Italian, which in itself was memorable ... anyway, they had his mother and his aunt living with them.
That is how it was once done... family helping family... just like you did with Norma's mother and aunt.

@quest4god@revelife - I'm like you Norm. I realize even with what little I have I am rich compared to other countries. I have a warm, dry (and cooled) roof over my head that does not leak, and always enough food to eat. My needs are well met compared to so many others, so I too always give.
Yes, God is the center of my life. Where learning the transcendental meditation helped is in that it helped me better know how to meditate on the Lord. I find I can get into closer communion with Him through the techniques of meditation. Even in the Bible it says to meditate on His Word. Meditation is really nothing more than getting quiet and still enough to listen and hear what the Lord wants to speak to you. "Be still and know". If I am remembering correctly this morning (sometimes it takes awhile for my brain to kick into gear ) even Jesus meditated.
The story Jonathon Livingston Seagull helped me to see this life as a journey to a higher plane.
I hope that you are doing well.
Blessings,
Lynn

@JstNotherDay - I know of many families where the husband and wife hold down 2 and 3 prat time jobs each to survive. I also know that having parents live with children is hard on both. Our own former pastor took his mother in and she demanded her own apartment. She wanted to run the house. I think some other cultures are better at this than us. I am not sure about that.

I know of 2 and 3 families living in the same house to get by.

It is very tough.

Norma wanted to obey God so she stayed with aunt Pearl until she died. She was with aunt Ruby during her last days. Her mother and aunt lived with us 5 years until they were just to sick and mentally out of it to stay with us. They died shortly after going to the nursing home.

The Bible says that He wants orphans, widows and foreigners taken care of--OT. I think the N.T. asked church families to take care of their parents. I assume they would handle orphans and in some cases foreigners who attend their church.

I sounds good, but doing it is very tough. Most kids cannot handle it and put their parents in a nursing home. I plan on going to a nursing home if necessary and not move in with my kids. lol

frank

@ANVRSADDAY - Hi Frank, Glad you are doing well.
I know, I agree, it is a tough thing... but that is what I mean about people used to understand that sacrifice was a part of life, and they did what was required. I'm with you though. I don't think any of us ever wants to impose, or depend on, another. It humbles us though and that may be part of God's plan. <3