What happens when we don't learn?

They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Pastor Martin Niemoller (1892-1984)

The email went out. The call to gather at the church for all of a half an hour -- 45 minutes if the participants have the gift of the gab. To make 60 lunches for the homeless. And when we arrived; we were greeted by one other World Youth Day pilgrim. That's it... And I'm not writing to pat our collective families on the back for showing up. After all my children weren't too happy their TV time was being interrupted.

I'm writing because I'm worried. What happens if we don't we learn? Haven't we read the book A Diary of Anne Frank or watched the movie Pay It Forward? Don't we know the tsunamic value of seemingly small acts of kindness?

What are we teaching our youth? Apathy, complacency, selfishness? Really, is that it? Obviously we are not learning from past world experiences. Whether you want to put a religious spin, or a karmic spin, on it -- What goes around, comes around... When the smallest succeeds; we all succeed.

Thirty minutes, a hour max with travel time -- and 60 homeless men, women, teens, and/or children got a bologna sandwich, juice box, bag of chips, and a couple of pieces of candy. Aren't we worth it?