There’s a little bit of Scrooge in many

Having attended a discussion about “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, I have learned that 170 years later, Scrooge lives on. You won't readily recognize him in our town where many very generous people give so much time and treasure for public good, yet there is, no doubt, a bit of Scrooge in many of us.

Few can argue that there is a shortage of wealth. And were it more evenly shared, want would become rare. We are experiencing the widest disparity of wealth since the 1920s and we should know the result of that.

The ghost of “Christmas Present” introduces two malnourished children to Scrooge whom the ghost describes as Ignorance and Want. When Scrooge inquires who the children belong to, the reply is “they belong to man.” Today, we create a new generation of Want when we as a nation, among other things, fail to provide universal preschool for all children because we choose to protect our own wealth.

How else to explain your support for those in Congress that will abide subsidies for oil companies and large corporations along with tax breaks and loopholes for the rich while they seek to cut food stamps for hungry children, deny a living minimum wage for working people and withhold unemployment funds for struggling families?

It would be better if we did not have to be reminded by Dickens and Pope Francis that we, as Christians, fall far short of the admonitions of the teachings of Jesus.

Larry Hodgden

Tipton