This article covers the issue I want to explore soon, but I have a couple of other topics I wanted to discuss first.
First is another bit of human nature. I think most of us understand that if you have a million dollars and decide to give it to needy people, that you could give a million people $1 each and make absolutely no difference in their life. For this topic, I realized that even though I'm mostly secular I will pretty much have todraw on the Catholic upbringing I grew up with. We all know that Jesus told us to help our fellow person. To give the shirt off our backs if need be. That it is harder for a rich man to get into heaven than for a came to get through a needle's eye. (And even if the 'needle's eye' refers to the entrance to a temple instead of an actual needle's eye, it's still a very challenging task.)
Yet there's a part of all of us that realizes "if I truly gave up everything in order to help others, I would have nothing and there would still be too many people who also have nothing."
I'm making the point because instead of thinking hard about how we can do both, I think most of us learn to harden our hearts and ignore the implicit challenge. We may give a tithe to our churches, donate to a charity, and do good works but most of the time it's only if we can afford it and not to the extent of giving the shirt off our backs.
We give what we can tolerate, rather than give in this crazy manner as asked in the Bible. And we absolve ourselves of any responsibility for our fellow human being. Leave it up to the churches, or the state, or whoever it is that we're giving our money to. That's why we gave them the money in the first place.
"The poor will always be with us" and "I am not my brother's keeper."
As a child, my school had little posters throughout the building. A drawing of a young boy and underneath it said "I know I'm somebody because God don't make no junk." This brings to mind a paradox, a way of looking at the world that I find dizzyingly incomprehensible. If we all are something amazing, all children of God, how can we all be special at the same time? If everyone is special...nobody is special. Like the cynical saying "We are all special snowflakes." Each one may be uniquely amazing if you look at them individually (I have a book with amazing photographs of individual snowflakes) but when you put it together you just get - snow.
This is the part that boggles my mind, and I have to marvel at anyone with the understanding to really get it. What if we said that without the cynicism? What if we considered each and every one of us a special snowflake, worthy of being photographed and placed in a book like the one I just mentioned? What if that was true of everybody. The person who is bagging your groceries. The person sweeping the floor. The waiter or waitress serving you dinner. The stock broker. The politician. The lobbyist. The CEO. The union worker.
The idiot. The genius. The jerk. The b****. The thug. The fat cat. The stud. The slut. The helpless. The clingy. The needy. The rich. The poor.
Every dismissive thought, every time we simplify someone into a word, we are disrespecting the complex and wondrous artistry that makes every single one of us the unique person we are.
To bring this back to my starting point - every time someone is unable to develop to their full potential it is a tragedy. Poverty is a tragedy. A loss. We have no idea how many Einsteins, Rembrandts, Da Vincis, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, or Abraham Lincolns were out there yet unable to provide their unique contribution.
Changing that isn't easy, and isn't just a matter of redistributing wealth. I think it's a worthy goal, though.
First is another bit of human nature. I think most of us understand that if you have a million dollars and decide to give it to needy people, that you could give a million people $1 each and make absolutely no difference in their life. For this topic, I realized that even though I'm mostly secular I will pretty much have todraw on the Catholic upbringing I grew up with. We all know that Jesus told us to help our fellow person. To give the shirt off our backs if need be. That it is harder for a rich man to get into heaven than for a came to get through a needle's eye. (And even if the 'needle's eye' refers to the entrance to a temple instead of an actual needle's eye, it's still a very challenging task.)
Yet there's a part of all of us that realizes "if I truly gave up everything in order to help others, I would have nothing and there would still be too many people who also have nothing."
I'm making the point because instead of thinking hard about how we can do both, I think most of us learn to harden our hearts and ignore the implicit challenge. We may give a tithe to our churches, donate to a charity, and do good works but most of the time it's only if we can afford it and not to the extent of giving the shirt off our backs.
We give what we can tolerate, rather than give in this crazy manner as asked in the Bible. And we absolve ourselves of any responsibility for our fellow human being. Leave it up to the churches, or the state, or whoever it is that we're giving our money to. That's why we gave them the money in the first place.
"The poor will always be with us" and "I am not my brother's keeper."
As a child, my school had little posters throughout the building. A drawing of a young boy and underneath it said "I know I'm somebody because God don't make no junk." This brings to mind a paradox, a way of looking at the world that I find dizzyingly incomprehensible. If we all are something amazing, all children of God, how can we all be special at the same time? If everyone is special...nobody is special. Like the cynical saying "We are all special snowflakes." Each one may be uniquely amazing if you look at them individually (I have a book with amazing photographs of individual snowflakes) but when you put it together you just get - snow.
This is the part that boggles my mind, and I have to marvel at anyone with the understanding to really get it. What if we said that without the cynicism? What if we considered each and every one of us a special snowflake, worthy of being photographed and placed in a book like the one I just mentioned? What if that was true of everybody. The person who is bagging your groceries. The person sweeping the floor. The waiter or waitress serving you dinner. The stock broker. The politician. The lobbyist. The CEO. The union worker.
The idiot. The genius. The jerk. The b****. The thug. The fat cat. The stud. The slut. The helpless. The clingy. The needy. The rich. The poor.
Every dismissive thought, every time we simplify someone into a word, we are disrespecting the complex and wondrous artistry that makes every single one of us the unique person we are.
To bring this back to my starting point - every time someone is unable to develop to their full potential it is a tragedy. Poverty is a tragedy. A loss. We have no idea how many Einsteins, Rembrandts, Da Vincis, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, or Abraham Lincolns were out there yet unable to provide their unique contribution.
Changing that isn't easy, and isn't just a matter of redistributing wealth. I think it's a worthy goal, though.
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