Be Not Idle

“(I)n 1973, the Michigan legislature passed a law intended to regulate unlicensed day care providers, not good neighbors, to ensure the health and safety of children.” – Ismael Ahmed, director of the Michigan Department of Health and Services

Recently the plight of a West Michigan woman made national headlines when she received a letter from the Department of Human Services warning her against running an unlicensed daycare. Except that she wasn’t doing that: She was helping her neighbors. Between the time they left for work and the time the school bus arrived, the woman looked after their children.

In these parts, that sort of caring gesture is called “neighborliness”.

But another neighbor – anonymous, of course – called the DHS to report an unlicensed daycare center. The DHS sent a letter to the helpful lady, complete with a list of consequences like fines and jail time.

News shows and bloggers leaped on the story. A few (very few) right-leaning commenters equated the law with a Michigan full of “union toughs” and power-hungry “libs”. Evidentally they missed when Governor Granholm*- a notoriously left-leaning politician – talked to Mr. Ahmed and Michigan legislators about working together to change the law.

I also tired of comments (both online and in real-life) that stated that the helpful neighbor should go ahead and get a daycare license. I suppose some of them responded out of igorance, having no idea that a license entails background checks, home inspections, etc.

But what bothered me most were others implied that private citizens (Jane Q. Neighbor, if you will) shouldn’t be doing public service.

I’ve heard that tune more than once, lately.

In the spring, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) proposed an amendment that would have protected the conscience clause, which allowed health care workers to opt out providing abortions and the like. After it went down in flames (thanks in part to 16 Catholic senators voting against it), I heard and read a lot of comments that dismissed the idea of workers having the right to refuse to compromise their moral convictions. When informed that Catholic hospitals are the largest provider of hospital services in the US, a co-worker remarked, “Another reason for national health care.”

The implication was that “godbags”** shouldn’t become doctors, nurses, or technicians unless they are prepared to do abortions, sterilizations, and whatever else might offend their moral sensibilities. Leave public service to secular authorities.

Last week, a fellow on the radio talked about ending the tax-exempt status of religious organizations. Someone mentioned the charity work that such organizations do, and he responded that our government has the responsibility to ensure the welfare of its people.

“(I)t is my responsibility ethically and morally to enforce the code. We don’t mean to be punitive with the non-profits…” – the Salem (Massachusetts) Health Agent, in 2007 after holiday bake sales were required to meet restaurant health requirements

Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I tend to agree with what Charles Dickens wrote in Martin Chuzzlewit : “Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door.”***

Michiganians are typical of most Americans in that if someone needs help, we donate our own time and money. When I worked at a Detroit parochial school, the most generous children often had the least. The principal told me of children going hungry so they could give their lunch money to a classmate whose family lost everything in a fire.

When I first moved to the Thumb, I was introduced to the Spaghetti Dinner fundraisers, “Chinese” auctions, and raffles for Barrels of Cheer. If a church, a fire department or another community institution needs money, there is no end to the bake sale, bottle-drives, and volunteers. No one waits for officials to step in.

It would also be a shame if we lose our tradition of spontaneous self-giving, not because it becomes illegal, but because red tape and restrictions stifle. It would be a profound loss if Jane Q. Neighbor starts to think paying taxes is the same as charity.

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*Referred to as Her Jenniferness whenever her liberal-headedness gets in the way of fiscal responsibility

**For some reason, I like the derogatory terms “godbag” and “Papist”. The former sounds like an affirmation that we’re empty until our lives are filled with the Divine. And the latter sounds like the pet term for members of the Society for the Appreciation of Human Nipples. (Oh, let the spam begin!)

*** Martin Chuzzlewit is yet another Dickens book in which I loved a supporting character – Mark Tapley – more than the main characters. See also Aunt Betsy in David Copperfield.

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