My dread.

I tossed and turned most of the night. The once beloved holiday season is on the doorsteps and now today all I can feel is dread. Why? I know soon I will start to hear or read one of the most quoted statements when concerning our poor and homeless. "You will always have the poor among you." While this place isn't the proper forum to discuss my theology as to why Jesus recounted what God had stated in the Old Testament, I have to ask, "How many lives must suffer to justify or quantify this statement?" Would one person suffering not be enough? And to what level must one be in? Does a person have to be living under some bridge and getting their daily nourishment out of a dumpster or is it just enough for an elderly person not having enough income to afford both medications and paying their heating bill this winter? Do we need two people in this situation to fulfill the statement? How about 1 million or 1 billion? Is 2.5 billion lives enough as we have today in our world?
When will we reach enough needless human suffering to be enough; so we will no longer use our faith as a justification but instead a reason to change our community and even the world?
I look forward to the day I no longer dread this time of the year.