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Silence can kill! – The Rev. William Krenz

I am thankful for a helpful tool that supports advocacy, Arthur Simon’s recent book, Silence Can Kill: Speaking Up to End Hunger and Make Our Economy Work for Everyone.

Simon writes, “Hunger is not new. What is new is that hunger is no longer inevitable…This changes the moral equation for us…’ You shall not…stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is at stake.’ (Leviticus 19:16)…The privilege of living in the United States includes both a responsibility and an opportunity…to raise our voices. Charity is one way to help others. An even more powerful way is to use our influence as citizens to seek justice for them.”

In the early ‘70s, I was present when Bishop Howard McCarney was not silent. At a meeting of the Hunger Appeal, he insisted that 7-8 percent of hunger income be used for advocacy. That cry was joined with the cries of others that eventually gave birth to LAMPa and has prompted thousands to champion distributive justice.

Silence Can Kill documents other voices that have occasionally moved governments to save millions of lives. (In 1984, 42,000 children – infancy to age 5 – died each day from malnutrition and disease.) Thanks to governmental child survival efforts, that number dropped to 15,000. We should increase our contributions toward advocacy!

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.” – Elie Wiesel

Please read Silence Can Kill.

 

The Rev. William Krenz, an active and faithful advocate against hunger, was chair of the Central Penn Synod Bishop’s Task Force on World Hunger for 25 years, serving with the late Bishop Howard J. McCarney.