The True Cost of a Soul

Lately it is getting harder and harder to understand why the actions some people take does not give them pause and still remains even more abstract after some answers to why are given.  We continue to wonder just how we lost our sense of humanity and when will it ever return.  Those questions still remain elusive and they become even more relevant after reading this story.

It is a story of how far some of us have fallen from any sense of grace and civility and can be found in an article titled “Officials say two employees at a Utah school have been placed on leave during an investigation of why lunches were taken from students who owed money on food accounts”, written for the Associated Press.  In this article it is described as “a Utah school cafeteria manager and a district supervisor have been placed on paid leave while officials investigate why lunches were taken from students who owed money on food accounts, a district spokesman said Friday”.  Now the first question is where on earth they got the idea from that it was okay to take food out of the mouths of children.  Did it not occur to them that had this been their kids, would these same actions be performed and why paid leave.  If it was so very important to take food out of the mouth of children for the sake of money, then would it also be not feasible to put them on leave and save that money which will be used to pay their salaries?

The article continues on saying that “about 32 elementary school students had their lunches seized and thrown away on Tuesday after a district official arrived at Uintah (Yoo-IN-tah) Elementary to investigate a large number of overdue lunch accounts, Salt Lake City School District spokesman Jason Olsen said.  Olsen has said students whose $2 meals were thrown out were given milk and fruit, a standard practice when students don't have lunch money.  The district was still investigating which workers decided to seize lunches the next day and how many were taking the meals from students. Parent Erica Luke’s daughter reported children were upset and confused and some shared food with each other”.  There are very few bright spots to this story but this is one of them.  Even if the adults are not capable of humility, it appears that some of the children of that school were.

The other sad part is found in another part of that article which tells us that “Salt Lake City School District spokesman Jason Olsen said the school principal has set up an account to cover lunch for students without money in their accounts, and other principals are taking steps to ensure that no more lunches are seized.  Two Utah lawmakers have said they were outraged and wanted to call attention to the policy”, saying “if the district does not address the problem, lawmakers will look at whether state policies need to change”.  “The school is located in a middle-class neighborhood, and the district qualifies for federal reimbursement on lunches when students select certain offerings that are within nutritional guidelines”.

So let me get this right, the federal government reimburses the school district for these lunches but a cafeteria manager and district supervisor felt compelled to inflict this unnecessary trauma upon these Elementary students.  Politicians now cry “foul” and promise to change the policies or look at changing them and those two “cowboys” get time off with pay?  Is it just me or is something really wrong with this picture?

Yes, you need to revisit the policy but most importantly you need to ask just how much your soul is worth.  Where the real Christians before this supervisor and manager began ripping meals away from kids?  Where were the adults to stand up and defend these children from being harmed in this manner?  Revisit your policies but more importantly revisit your humanity.