Shoes for Jake

by Virgil Tipton · 02/24/2015

Thieves broke into the empty home of my son’s friend but only grabbed his shoes. Why? Nothing else was worth taking. The young man—I’ll call him Jake—was orphaned at twelve and moved in with an aunt in a rough neighborhood. He was regularly urged to commit crimes and use drugs, problems often endemic in underprivileged neighborhoods. He resisted. At eighteen, upon graduating from high school, Jake began working overnight in a factory. The bus ride took a couple of hours each way. He tried to move into the home he had inherited, also in a rough part of town, but a cousin who had been squatting there wouldn’t budge. Months later, Jake got him out. He wanted the place because it reminded him of his life with his parents. Today, at nineteen, Jake attends a community college and works overnight for a delivery service. His shift ends at 3 am. He often waits three hours until buses start running so he can go home. Jake is a kind, respectful, smart, funny young man. He’ll probably live on poverty’s edge for a long time, no matter how hard he works or how thoughtful his choices.Sometimes, we hear people in the media or in person say that folks in poverty are to blame for their lot. How easy is it to use that as an excuse not to help?

This month our magazine’s theme is social responsibility, which leads me to think of Jake. The Church has a rich tradition of teaching on social issues, ranging from helping the vulnerable in society to stewardship for the earth. Responsibility—not blame—is at the core of the Church’s teachings. What’s our responsibility? Jake’s story is ongoing, as is the story of our planet, the story of the imprisoned, the story of the aged, and the stories of others who need our support. To be part of the story, I think I’ll buy shoes for Jake. You’ll find social-teaching resources on the site of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (usccb.org).

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Thanks.

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