grubby hands

Friday October 4^th, Luke 16: The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'  25 "But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'   The sin of the unnamed rich man is brought to light in hell, where even here, he sees the role of the impoverished as one of serving those who contribute to their being impoverished.  Affirmative action has become a dirty word in our current world, primarily because it is seen as grubby hands reaching up to take back rather than the hands of the well-heeled reaching down to give back.