Do we understand what gratitude requires?

Just over a year ago, I was writing about The Hunger Games and how this futuristic morality tale reflects our own cruel and unequal society. At the time, presidential candidate Mitt Romney had just written off 47 percent of Americans, labeling them as lazy and irresponsible.

This November, the second part of the Hunger Games movie trilogy, Catching Fire, was released in theatres. The release coincides with Congress’ last-ditch debate over the Farm Bill and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. So this fall I am seeing other writers draw the comparison between America and the Hunger Games.

As the editors of The Miami Herald noted in a piece titled “Hey Congress, hunger’s not a game”: “That the program [SNAP] has been an unmitigated success is irrefutable — if ensuring that Americans don’t go hungry in this land of plenty is one’s mission. That it has been a cesspool of waste, fraud and abuse, as lawmakers who want to make brutal and inhumane budget cuts contend, is simply not true. It’s a ruse, an excuse to throw poor people under the bus.”

I find it ironic we are still battling over SNAP funding during a season supposed to be focused on gratitude and generosity. And I am disappointed we cannot see past petty, divisive and judgmental, not to mention false, arguments to push lawmakers to do the right thing.

This is urgent for people in every community, though we may not acknowledge it. As Kevin Concannon, undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services wrote on Huffington Post: “On November 1, SNAP families began receiving fewer benefits each month due to an automatic benefit reduction. For many families, coping with this cut will be tough, particularly during the holidays. Fortunately, this is the time of the year in particular that food pantries and food banks are aided by generous Americans. But they cannot fairly be expected, and they are telling us that they cannot fully meet the need in their communities if SNAP is cut further.”

Concannon notes that many of these families include children, the elderly, disabled persons and working people. And he lays out all the ways – counter to the prevailing myths about SNAP administration and recipients – the program works. In fact, he notes that fraud in the program has been reduced over the last 15 years to about 1 percent.

But, I have to wonder about American society when we are willing to allow cuts to a program that feeds people in need, especially in a time of economic instability and high unemployment. And I am not alone.

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne laid it out beautifully in this post titled, “On Thanksgiving, understanding what gratitude requires.” He writes: “A call to responsibility lies at the heart of gratitude. If faith without works is dead, gratitude without generosity of spirit is empty. By reminding us of how much we owe to others, or to social arrangements, or to fate, or to God, gratitude creates an obligation to repay our debts by repairing injustices and reaching out to those whom luck has failed. Gratitude is a response to acts of love. It demands more of the same — nothing more, nothing less.”

We should be demanding Congress act on a Food, Farms and Jobs bill to restore SNAP and focus on economic stability for all. True gratitude requires it.