My heart sank once again as I finally made it to the front of the line. I’d been waiting in line for three hours, only to get to the window and this woman tell me that they lost my paperwork again. This was the fifth time the department had lost something that I submitted, and here we go again.

To add to my frustration, the caseworker tells me that her computer just crashed. “Again, Lord, again?” I’m screaming out loud this time in disbelief. She goes on to tell me with a nasty attitude and a sarcastic undertone that everyone who was waiting for their food stamps to be renewed or processed would have to wait until their system was back up and running.

Then suddenly, another lady comes out of a side door of the office and stands in the middle of the already crowded, smelly, stuffy, and suffocating waiting area, and screams at the top of her lungs — as if we could not hear her — and tells us to go home, that the system may be back up within seven days. Yes, seven days is what we were told. The coldness of the lady could not be expressed with words.

I began to look around at the hundreds of faces who were in need of services — immediately. They could not wait for seven days to receive food assistance, nor medical help. Looks of desperation and despair oozed out of some of the people through their cries, rants, and yes, even through their cursing as they began to tell how this system has failed them again and again.

Many of the people around me started to explain the horror and sheer nightmare it had been for them having to apply for assistance with the government. Some were very old, and were living off of a small pension, young and old mothers who had many children, white, black, Hispanic, men and women. Everyone you could imagine was in that line that day, needing assistance.

The point here I am trying to make is that it was not just one set of individuals who were needing help. It was a mixture of all people from all walks of life. You know how society has stereotyped people who need assistance into one set of individuals? No matter what the media has displayed, I saw all walks of life applying for government assistance. It was more people than you could ever imagine. I know that the news is reporting that jobs have increased, and they have, but there are still a large amount of people still needing help in 2017.

Now I know what you are thinking. “Why don’t they just get a job, like every other hardworking American?” Well, guess what? They had jobs. Good paying jobs and careers at one time or another. Guess what? They were still looking and applying for jobs.  Some of the faces I saw that day were individuals who had been working for companies for 20 years. And one day, their company closed with no warning. Is this person lazy for being in the food assistance line? No.

Some of these individuals were lawyers, managers, high up executives, and for some reason or another, they lost everything. They lost their savings and their retirement plans. What do you tell people who did everything they could to plan for a “rainy day,” and end up losing it all, and now they have to depend on government assistance? No judging here. They are in that place of needing assistance now. There were so many young children with their mothers that day that were in need of help. You could literally see the despair in their eyes as they were turned away again. I began to weep bitterly as I saw their faces.

What do you tell people who have planned all of their lives for hard times, only to end up losing everything? Even their best well laid out plans did not prepare them for this. This was me. I’ve been told many times to get a good education, and you can write your own ticket in life. I even got a master’s degree, and had worked hard on trying to save money and not live an extravagant life. Even my most well laid out plan did not prepare me for what I have been through. I now have a deeper respect for all individuals who are having a hard time and I have learned not to judge them.

But getting back to the reason I was writing this article in the first place, I realized standing in line that day that the very system we set up to help people is causing more harm than we could ever expect. This system is set up to fail the people. It was never designed to help the masses of people who are, and may at one time or another, need help.

Where did we go wrong as a society? What happened to America, the great nation? Why, in 2017, are people from all walks of life standing in food assistance lines only to be told come back another day for help? Is the government able or even equipped to handle such need? Can they literally handle the masses of the individuals needing assistance? No.

Or is there another solution to this problem? Yes. I truly believe that God is equipping our churches to be able to handle the people’s needs. I also believe that God never intended for the government to take on this role or responsibility.

I truly believe that I had an “aha moment,” as I stood in the line that day with the people as tears rolled down my face. I believe that God is going to use the church in this light, and that He is raising up many unknown individuals to help families and communities in need.

So today, I say yes to God using me to be a change agent to help families and communities in need. Today I ask individuals who are reading this article to reexamine their life and calling, and begin to ask God today: what is He calling you to do?

The Cries of the People: Part Two

Article was written by Marquetta Smith, a concerned American Citizen