By Jim Hagarty
The most ignorant people in our world are not those who cannot read or write or make change for a $20 bill.
The most ignorant people are the ones who can do all those things and yet look down on those who can’t.
The illiterate can be taught to read and write, the numerically challenged, to do math.
Heartless people are a bigger challenge. When a heart hardens, for whatever reason, the formula has yet to be found, the pill to be formulated, the gadget to be devised, the program to be written, to soften up their sensibilities.
Success does not have to warp us. It is a choice.
I have met people, common as the most common street urchin at one stage in their lives, who ended up doing very well, accumulating “riches” beyond what they ever thought possible. Some of them, upon acquiring their wealth, immediately began worrying that some undeserving others were going to come along and take it from them.
I have also encountered “poor” people who have literally, taken me in and fed me, gave me a bed and – the shirt off their back.
There is nothing inherently noble about the poor or the rich.
The only valuable thing any of us has in this world is our heart. It can be as big or as small as we want it to be.
The ushers will now bring around the collection plates.
The sermon has ended. Go in Peace.
