Sit in Idleness

 One of the news headlines for today are the comments that the supposed leader of free world gave about the people of Puerto Rico still reeling from the disastrous effects of Hurricane Maria.  When the mayor of Puerto Rico gave a plea “begging, begging anyone that can hear us, to save us from dying,” the president responded, relaxing in his New Jersey golf club, with harsh criticism: “Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help….  They want everything to be done for them.”  Most of us are certainly in no place to judge what is actually going on, and if help is not getting to where it needs to go we certainly can’t judge who is at fault, but I was just baffled that this condescending response could be so critical of a people who are scrambling to try to prevent as many deaths as possible.  Can’t we simply have compassion and work together? 

               The story reminded me of a few scriptures.  If Captain Moroni were here, I imagine that he might respond with these words, “Yea, will ye sit in idleness while ye are surrounded with thousands of those, yea, and tens of thousands, who do also sit in idleness, while there are thousands round about in the borders of the land who are [dying and desperately in need]?  Do ye suppose that God will look upon you as guiltless while ye sit still and behold these things?” (Alma 60:22-23)  Or if the prophet Amos were alive today he might remind us of these words he once spoke to the proud of Israel who failed to help the poor: “[The rich] lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David; That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph” (Amos 6:4-6).  The rich among the northern kingdom at this time had no compassion on the poor and destitute—they did not grieve for those afflicted in Joseph (i.e. Israel), and they paid dearly for that as the Assyrian army came in soon after and wiped them out.  If the prophet Isaiah were here, he might also question us with his words, “Ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.  What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor?” (Isaiah 3:14-15).  The spoil of the poor was in their houses because they had not given to the poor what the Lord expected them to.     

            In our day the Lord has issued this warning to all of us who are in a position to help others, “Wo unto you rich men, that will not give your substance to the poor, for your riches will canker your souls” (D&C 56:16).  He has also warned that if we do not “remember in all things the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted” then we are simply not His disciple (D&C 52:40).  Ultimately the important question for each of us is not who is to blame in the government, but rather how much we can do individually to help those in need while we sit comfortably in our own possessions.