King Comments On Caring For The Poor

Bangor Daily News has an article titled, "Maine’s poor take to stage in Bangor in effort to dispel myths." Pat LaMarche moderated the two hour event at Husson University Wednesday night.

(Full story HERE)

Sponsored by WKIT and WZON, Stephen and Tabitha King’s Bangor radio stations, Faces of the Poor featured people from the community who say they were hurt by the Maine Legislature’s final budget. 

“I grew up Methodist, and I remember a lot of those scriptural readings I heard in church,” Stephen King noted in a news item posted on his stations’ website. “One of them, from the book of Matthew, quotes Jesus: ‘Here is the truth: anything you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Or, from the book of Luke, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ 

“The poor are just as much a part of our community as the rich. They deserve bread for their tables, a roof over their heads, clothes to wear, and shoes to walk in. When we do for them, we do for ourselves,” King said. “It’s called sharing the love.”

That's awesome!  Hold on. . . let me think about this. . . as a preacher I've got to say : THAT'S AWESOME!  King is quite right, the Scriptures do command us to have a compassionate attitude toward the poor.  Something the conservative right would do well to remember.

King's note is evidence that he has not forgotten his childhood and the desperate measures his mother went to in order to make sure he  and his brother were okay.  It is also evidence that he remembers well the Scriptures he was taught, and in particular the words of Jesus.

LaMarche: Stephen King's New Woodshed

Pat LaMarche writes in the Huffington Post, "I changed jobs this week. I went to work for one of my heroes. Perhaps you've heard of him, his name is Stephen King. Lots of folks like his books. He's more than an author though. He's a guy who gives a darn about his fellow man. A simple web search will tell you about the many soldiers, students, athletes and regular Joes he's helped over the years."

She then writes. . . "Too many Americans have accepted the rhetoric that innocents have to die so that we can clobber a bad guy or two that might be in our midst. That's the same logic used by Timothy McVeigh by the way."  That is true.  Americans also remember the Holocaust and a commitment we made to never again let large numbers of innocent people be slaughtered on our watch.  Sometimes that means clobbering bad guys! 

What is refreshing about LaMarche is that she truly seems to appreciate Stephen King.  She appears to have a working knowledge of his books, politics and values.  She doesn't appear to just be jumping into a job, but embracing something she is truly passionate about.  She promises humor over rhetoric.  I hope she can deliver on that! 

She closes with this, "Here's the last word from Mr. King, when he spoke about the morning show at our press conference last week, "We'd like to burn some feet once in a while -- make some people a little bit angry." Because, King added, "There are some people who deserve to be taken to the woodshed from time to time."

huffingtonpost.com