I Care

*"Prometheus" drypoint by Wolfram Geothe

I Care

I care about my city, which I have seen slowly dying under the attack of the demons of illicit drugs and criminal activity, from the mayors and crooked city counsel members to the kids on the street; of course, the only ones who end up in jail are the underprivileged (poor) kids.
I care about my countrymen who are serving and giving there best around the globe and are proving that the people of our nation care about other countries.
I care about the people of other nations.
I care about them whether the governments of those nations would make themselves our enemies or not.
I care about every single prisoner anywhere in any prison anywhere for any reason.
I care about the homeless,
the ones who many of our citizens
in the financial upper strata don’t want to see.
But I also care about the rich people too.
I am a Catholic and I care about my Church, because like my nation, she is always at work to help people (mostly anonymously) and no matter how much she gives even the people whom she has helped still put her down.
I care about grandmothers who are raising the third and fourth generations of their progeny because the first and second generations succumbed to the drug & vice scene and ended up disabled, dysfunctional, dead or institutionalized for some reason or another.
These courageous women (mamas) keep our country together, their love and faith are the gravity, fabric and glue that binds and unites our society at its roots and keeps our nation from dissolving into something that would be an unrecognizable mess; they are the Suns around which our families orbit, believe it or not, this assertion is true.
Think about it.
I care about my family,
even though they can be self-absorbed jerks,
I still love them.
I care so much that I have to declare it just so I can try to understand it, because I don’t understand why I care so much now; I spent most of my life not caring about anything and being a self-absorbed jerk; I’m still a self-absorbed jerk just like most of the rest of my family, at least now I care about it and am trying to change and I know that the young ones are going to make the same mistakes I made and no matter how much I care I can’t prevent them from doing that.
All I know for sure is that I started to care when I surrendered to the will of God, I know that sounds korny to some, but I really heard It, that Still Small Voice, which is written of in the First Book of Kings and which said to me “Let go” when I responded in my meditation “Let go of what?” the whispered answer was “Everything.”
I care about the ministry for which I volunteer. I pray that she is always guided and directed by the Holy Spirit.
I care about the outreach agencies and medical institutions that help me, I care about those who work for them and the other people they help.
I care about and love my wife in ways that go so deep into my Soul that I haven’t found its limits and don’t believe I ever will.
I care about you.
It is a beautiful but hard and painful thing, to care so.

Copyright © 2007 by James A. Stratemeyer

HCCJM Newsletter, editor

The Harford County Christian Jail Ministry Is a non-profit, all volunteer, prison outreach. Visit the ministry website @ http://www.hccjm.com/
We rejoice in the opening of Lydia's House our safe house for women in the Aberdeen/Edgewood area of Harford Co. Md. this August 2007.

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I would like to thank our Ministry President Mr. Phil Kenny for providing me access to the internet since 2004. (Thanks Phil)