On a trip to the post office today, I saw an unusual sight. For some reason, I noticed there were an awful lot of payroll advance businesses. I decided to count them. In the 1.8 miles from my home to the post office, I counted 7 such places. Seven…in less than two miles!
Some of you may be wondering what kind of place I have chosen to live. Technically, I live in Columbus, but just on the outskirts of Reynoldsburg, OH. I was driving in toward the Reynoldsburg Post Office when I noticed all of this craziness.
To give you an understanding of what Reynoldsburg is like, let me share this fact: on the news recently, they reported that drug dealers were moving out of inner city Columbus and into the suburbs like Reynoldsburg and Pickerington (Reynoldsburg’s neighboring town) because they don’t want their children to be raised in such a seedy environment. I guess those family-oriented drug dealers now commute to work!
At any rate, I don’t exactly live in “the ghetto”, so I would assume there are places which have much higher instances of payroll advance businesses than where I live. I understand there may be need for a payroll advance once in a while. Unexpected things happen. Emergencies occur. But, how on earth can a 1.8 mile section of land support 7 such places? In my ignorance, I thought those businesses were places where someone went occasionally, in dire circumstances. Instead—based on the sheer number of such places--there have to be multitudes of people for which this is a lifestyle.
Now, I know some people might blame that kind of lifestyle on the poor choices of people who get themselves into such binds…and I am sure choices are partly to blame. Yet, we have to be honest and admit that the people who are most in need (the ones really trying to make a difference in their lives but just not able to “scrape by”), are the ones who most often get taken advantage of. Some of these payroll advance places charge 30% interest (or higher). While I don’t know this for sure, my assumption is that people go to take out a loan for legitimate reasons, and then cannot afford to pay it back (especially with that ridiculous amount of interest)…so they take out another loan to pay for the last one, and it becomes a vicious cycle. Certainly, we can blame that on choices…but then again, desperation is not the best state to be in when making life decisions.
As a Christian, this especially breaks my heart. I read about the Church in Acts 2 and I think we are missing something as a Church today. I am not talking about throwing money out the window at people. I am taking about making a difference in the unequal distribution of wealth in our world. Sure, this is a free country, but I don’t really believe that anyone can make a financial success out of their life if they just try harder. That myth is perpetuated by people like me, who had the privileges of a good upbringing, a wonderful education, and a solid, faith-based, moral under girding.
The Church needs to step up and be the Church, not just to give handouts, but to help people experience and live lives of freedom…not lives of tyranny and debt. There has to be a way we can work together to help people live these lives—lives that are not bogged down in desperation. Wouldn’t it be a great world if we could eradicate such payroll advance places…even more than that, if we could eradicate the need for such places?
I don’t know how to do that, but I think the answer to most questions about “what to do” is: the Church…the hands, feet, voice, and heart of Jesus Christ here on the earth. So Church, what are we gonna do about this?
Some of you may be wondering what kind of place I have chosen to live. Technically, I live in Columbus, but just on the outskirts of Reynoldsburg, OH. I was driving in toward the Reynoldsburg Post Office when I noticed all of this craziness.
To give you an understanding of what Reynoldsburg is like, let me share this fact: on the news recently, they reported that drug dealers were moving out of inner city Columbus and into the suburbs like Reynoldsburg and Pickerington (Reynoldsburg’s neighboring town) because they don’t want their children to be raised in such a seedy environment. I guess those family-oriented drug dealers now commute to work!
At any rate, I don’t exactly live in “the ghetto”, so I would assume there are places which have much higher instances of payroll advance businesses than where I live. I understand there may be need for a payroll advance once in a while. Unexpected things happen. Emergencies occur. But, how on earth can a 1.8 mile section of land support 7 such places? In my ignorance, I thought those businesses were places where someone went occasionally, in dire circumstances. Instead—based on the sheer number of such places--there have to be multitudes of people for which this is a lifestyle.
Now, I know some people might blame that kind of lifestyle on the poor choices of people who get themselves into such binds…and I am sure choices are partly to blame. Yet, we have to be honest and admit that the people who are most in need (the ones really trying to make a difference in their lives but just not able to “scrape by”), are the ones who most often get taken advantage of. Some of these payroll advance places charge 30% interest (or higher). While I don’t know this for sure, my assumption is that people go to take out a loan for legitimate reasons, and then cannot afford to pay it back (especially with that ridiculous amount of interest)…so they take out another loan to pay for the last one, and it becomes a vicious cycle. Certainly, we can blame that on choices…but then again, desperation is not the best state to be in when making life decisions.
As a Christian, this especially breaks my heart. I read about the Church in Acts 2 and I think we are missing something as a Church today. I am not talking about throwing money out the window at people. I am taking about making a difference in the unequal distribution of wealth in our world. Sure, this is a free country, but I don’t really believe that anyone can make a financial success out of their life if they just try harder. That myth is perpetuated by people like me, who had the privileges of a good upbringing, a wonderful education, and a solid, faith-based, moral under girding.
The Church needs to step up and be the Church, not just to give handouts, but to help people experience and live lives of freedom…not lives of tyranny and debt. There has to be a way we can work together to help people live these lives—lives that are not bogged down in desperation. Wouldn’t it be a great world if we could eradicate such payroll advance places…even more than that, if we could eradicate the need for such places?
I don’t know how to do that, but I think the answer to most questions about “what to do” is: the Church…the hands, feet, voice, and heart of Jesus Christ here on the earth. So Church, what are we gonna do about this?
1 comment:
There are such acts like Habitat for Humanity and not for profit Soup kitchens.
Most of the poverty comes not by choice but by just a bad situation. Family dies and they hit a spiral of depression and alcohol. Layoffs happen just after purchasing a new car. Population increases and the price of a life gets to be too much. No doubt people make stupid choices, but we as Christians are called to look beyond that and to still give a helping hand to those that we love and even to those that we don't.
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