Poverty

Listen to “Rise Up” by Fred Smith   My father had a life removed from us that we knew little about until we were grown. It was only a few years before he died that I understood [...]

Listen to “Unreasonable People” by Fred Smith Almost every time I read about a major foundation tackling another global problem I have two responses. The first is, “Go get ‘em tiger” [...]

Listen to “The Widow’s Great Treasure” by Fred Smith   For years I have treated the story of the widow’s mite as an illustration of sacrificial giving. So remarkable is the [...]

Listen to “My Trivial Sins” by Fred Smith   No one would describe me as a product of diversity. As a Southern Baptist, I grew up sure of our traditions and practices but not our [...]

Listen to “The Glitter is Gone” by Fred Smith   In the past there has always been an unspoken bond between the very rich “one percent” of our world and the rest of us. During the [...]

Listen to “All Things In Common” By Fred Smith   I posted an article on the shrinking of the middle class as an increasing number of people are falling into the category of [...]

Listen to “And You Have So Many” By Fred Smith   This being the week of Mother’s Day, I remember one of my father’s favorite stories about his mother. They lived in a very poor [...]

Listen to “The Great Divide.”   While guaranteed to be controversial, Michael Gerson’s essay The Last Temptation in the April issue of The Atlantic has captured 150 years of [...]

In his book, “The Greatest Generation” Tom Brokaw wrote, “At a time in their lives when their days and nights should have been filled with innocent adventure, love, and the lessons of the [...]

Carol and I were in Baltimore last week, and our visits included a middle school in one of the worst neighborhoods of the city. The principal told us their students consistently dropped out long [...]