Anna and the Money

Seeing the fantastic play Caroline, Or Change reminded me of a similiar incident I had when I was a child.

The play made me reminisce about my childhood when we had, not a maid, but a cleaning lady. She was named Anna and was an immigrant from Russian that my parents had helped sponsor through my church. Anna came once about every two weeks to scour our house until it seemed nearly unrecognizable when I returned from school. Though I did not idolize and befriend Anna like Noah, I did befriend all of Anna's children. They cam to help their mother clean and often cleaned my room so that they could play with my dolls and toys.

Though I can never remember any issues regarding money in our laundry, there was once an incident with her regular pay. My mother always left Anna's pay between the salt and pepper shakers on the kitchen counter when she took us to school in the morning. One hectic day when I was anxious to leave for school my mother discovered that the money had gone missing. She implored me to confess if I had taken it, but I had not. My sister finally relented that she had taken the money because she thought it was too much money, Anna didn't need that much. My mother was shocked that my sister stole money and did so because she seemed to know what was the right and wrong hourly pay.

When I think about this story now I am unsure if my mother had actually payed Anna too much too help her along, or if my sister just had too little conscious of what the right wage amount was. I tended to believe the second reason, but after seeing the play Wednesday I am beginning to rethink my reasoning.

Is it wrong to want to help people who we perceive as lower economic status than ourselves? Does our pure premise of others as "needing help" imply that we are elitist?

Comments

[Mia S.]

This question is also, subtly, brought up in Heart of Darkness. Do people who go to the Congo ostensibly to "save the savages" really have a right to declare that they need help at all?

[Nicole B.]

I think if someone is aware that they need help, financially or when it comes to civilizing, it should be okay to help them. However, if they don't accept your help, or agree with how you are helping, then it becomes more than just being nice. It should be up to the person that is in need.

[Jennifer M.]

I don't think that it is wrong to help people of lower economic status than us if the person in need doesn't mind it. I agree with Nicole in that if the person doesn't want your help, you should listen to them, even if you think that they should take it. I also think that wanting to help a person out should not make us elitist because we are caring about them and wiiling to help them.