Posted on 11/21/2004 1:33:34 PM PST by rface
Maybe he's so tied to ideology that he can't bring himself to admit that the economy is bad and people are hurting.
Or maybe it was just the OxyContin talking.
Wendy Glick sees life in circles. Circles that link every human being. Circles that surround and protect. Circles that mark our paths through life sometimes.
Even the social circles we move in.
"You know what you live," says Glick, director of The Lord's Diner downtown, meaning people too often observe the world in all of its breadth from inside their own insular world.
That's why she seemed so patient in her response to radio rube Rush Limbaugh, who recently implied that some of the people waiting in those long lines every night at The Lord's Diner didn't really need the free meal the diner provides.
Reading an Eagle report, Limbaugh mocked Glick, who had said that new families showing up for help looked uncomfortable.
"They're wondering if they're going to get away with it, Wendy!" Limbaugh said on air.
Rush could learn a thing or two from Glick.
"First of all," Glick says, "I think it's awesome that Rush Limbaugh reads The Wichita Eagle. But The Lord's Diner is here to serve, not to judge."
People have more than one kind of hunger, she said. People hunger for fellowship as well as food. Some people come to the diner terribly lonely and hungry, and they get nourished in the way they need to be nourished.
Maybe Limbaugh found himself scrambling for program material and thought the diner an easy target.
Maybe he's so tied to ideology that he can't bring himself to admit that the economy is bad and people are hurting.
Or maybe it was just the OxyContin talking.
That last comment might seem like a cheap shot. Limbaugh admitted on his radio program last year that he'd been addicted to the painkiller since an unsuccessful back surgery and later hired lawyers to keep his medical records sealed.
But a rich talk radio host bashing poor people who can't afford lawyers to hide their pharmacological peccadilloes is pretty doggone sorry, too.
As I said, he could learn a lot from Glick, who, a few years ago, began living a larger life.
After selling off her Skate East and Skate South businesses, and as she says, doing the stay-at-home-mom thing, Glick felt her faith pulling her into volunteering for Catholic Charities, which serves the poor.
There, she formed her own part of the circle with people outside her usual orbit.
And they notice when she's styled her hair differently and they think enough of her to tell her. They smile and thank her constantly. They see fatigue in her eyes and encourage her to please go home and rest.
She said, having been tucked away in an east-side community, she had no idea of the need in our community. "If you don't live it, you just don't know it," she said. "Just a lack of knowledge."
Now she's so in tune that she can watch a family standing in the food line and tell they are there for the first time because they don't know the procedure. They're holding documents that other charities require before helping anyone. But The Lord's Diner requires no such documents. All you have to do is sign in.
And as welcoming as the staff at the diner tries to be, it still can be very humbling to stand in line for food, Glick said.
"I just wish that he (Limbaugh) could make statements with more knowledge," she said, adding that she'd gotten a contribution Wednesday in his honor. "I invite anyone who'd like to see The Lord's Diner to come on down for dinner."
I think Rush should visit and live something he doesn't know.
He should stand in line with the people for whom The Lord's Diner exists as the most benevolent of blessings. Sit with them and tell them that they're freeloaders. Step out of his glass-encased recording booth into a new, larger world.
One that begins and ends with individuals, people to whom we're all linked.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reach Mark McCormick at 268-6549 or mmccormick@wichitaeagle.com.
Why is it whenever liberals attempt to write on the subject of religion their lame attempt at being pious just comes across as a pissy little rant?
Yep. I'd say it was a cheap shot.
Probably. My guess is Glick didn't even listen to the show in question, as is typical of any Liberal.
This is a bunch of crap!
The ultimate cheap shot, tucked away in an article about "compassion."
I listen to Limbaugh every day and don't recall any of this. Sounds trumped up to me. It'll be interesting to see if he mentions it tomorrow.
The economy is bad? That's news to me.
The DJIA could be at 20,000 and the liberals would still be whining that the economy was sour.
The left espousing on religion is supposed to be taken as pious (so they say), while those of us on the right are just idiot zealots outside the mainstream, who voted for Bush. (so they say)
"Or maybe it was just the OxyContin talking."
A liberal condemning someone for being "judgemental" by being judgemental.
Exactly. Free food will always draw a crowd, but the libs are so smug and self-centered they don't know they're being used.
Cheap shots
Lying
Stereotyping
Stereotyping lets you dismiss whole swaths of people because of the label you assign them. Lying, well, that has obvious advantages. These two are the heavier weapons, rhetorically speaking.
The cheap shots are nice zingers because they're short, sharp, and true. They problem is that they're skirmish weapons. They round out the arsenel, but they're best used sparingly. It's easy to come across as catty and mean. (Like mentioning Mary Cheney, for instance)
If the labels are wearing off, and the lies are being exposed, expect more cheap shots from our friends on the left.
Please don't confuse financial bubbles with economic well being.
Hey, if Rush wants to rail against sensible drug policies, he should be able to take the heat.
Cheap shot or no.
Rush was making a point about being good stewards of the Lord’s Dinner budget. The Eagle does not understand this point because they are smart enough to think at Rush's level. This is why the readership of the Wichita Eagle is so small.
When you give something away for free people will take even though they do not need it. Wasting other people’s money is something both the government and the Wichita Eagle do not mind as long as it makes them feel good, never mind about the results.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.