Dear SAU Students,

I know that the semester is winding down, but I thought now more than ever with the holidays coming up that it would be a good time to think about being gracious and giving. It’s easy to ‘blame’ homeless people for the situation they got themselves into. “Oh, they must’ve not been spending their money wisely, or aren’t working hard enough,” are common complaints thrown at people in these situations; however, Elsa Tamez, a biblical scholar who wrote the book Bible of the Oppressed, tells us “The oppressor steals from the oppressed and impoverished them,” (Tamez 3). It’s an important point that some situations are taken out of people’s hands. Even within the last month, we see people like Elon Musk committing mass layoffs as the new CEO of Twitter. It’s been reported by the nonprofit organization Rest of World that “It’s estimated that half of Twitter’s employees have now been laid off, […] many with absolutely no notice,” (Deck et al. 1). Elon Musk laid off numerous employees, and Elsa Tamez says how, “Oppressors do not oppress because they are cruel and enjoy it, their primary purpose is to accumulate wealth,” (Tamez 11). Elon Musk isn’t firing random people who don’t exist, he’s firing people like Anupam in India who’s trying his best to keep up with the demands with over half his team fired, (Deck et al. 1). That’s why I wanted to write this letter to all of you. To remind us that People are people, with lives and daily struggles, that we must at least be understanding of.

If you want to help more, however, I highly suggest going to feedingamerica.org to find a local food bank near you and contacting them to find information on how and what to donate.

Sincerely,
Ethan Windt