Rich and Foolish

"Who, then, is greedy? The one who does not remain content with self sufficiency. Who is the one who deprives others? The one who hoards what belongs to everyone. Are you not greedy? Are you not one who deprives others? You have received these things for stewardship, and have turned them into your own property....The bread that you hold on to belongs to the hungry; the cloak you keep locked in your storeroom belongs to the naked; the shoe that is moldering in your possession belongs to the person with no shoes; the silver that you have buried belongs to the person in need. You do an injury to as many people as you might have helped with all these things!" - St. Basil


I came across this quote by St. Basil in a book I am currently reading. It was a splash of water on my greedy little soul.

Like most Americans I hoard things. I hoard books, clothes, food and lots of children's toys for my children. I even make myself feel better by comparing "my stuff" to other people's excess. You see in my heart I am terrified at what we are called to do. The parable of the rich fool will further illustrate:

"Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ "Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God”.  - Jesus according to Luke 12

You see I am in love with my life. I hang on to my secure, warm and comfortable existence. I love my career, my comfortable air conditioned house, the internet, my books, the Netflix subscription. I can't plead ignorance like some- and that's what worries me.

Even now as our family explores these questions deeply.  In the interim I feel like the rich fool in the story above. I am placing my security and pleasure in my worldly possessions. So, we've got our work cut out for ourselves. I hunger for justice and righteousness, but I'm not nearly hungry enough. Help me, Jesus.

Charity, Capitalism and Rebellion (or "I got stuff to do, someone else start the revolution")

"Under a capitalist regime, the man who says he is neutral is considered objectively to be favorable to the regime" - Camus, The Rebel


We all like to think of ourselves as good people. We are all the protagonists of our respective books…that’s just human nature. The differences among us can be found in how we define “good” and how we implement it into our own lives and identities. The last few years I have struggled with how to work “good” acts within an immoral system (capitalism). When I found this video, it was nice to have someone else much more articulate than myself define the problem – watch below – the speech is great and the artwork is amazing.





To sum up the video (for those too lazy): our charitable acts end up contributing to a morally bankrupt system. The very act of compassion actually helps support the broken system. It’s as if we are prolonging a painful death in the name of love and compassion. According to the video, when I go to the homeless shelter I am actually working against the homeless and those in poverty by supporting the current economic and political systems that make homelessness and poverty not only possible, but in many ways enable and justify poverty.

Maybe it’s all just a dose of liberal guilt – you know you have it if you feel guilty for throwing away that can or plastic bottle instead of recycling (hence my car is full of bottles, cans and other items that can be recycled at home but never actually make it to the house). The question is, how should we work for "the good" in an all-present system that our culture celebrates (and defends at the drop of a hat).

Yes, I am insinuating capitalism borders on the equivalence of evil of robots that take over the world.

Even by calling our system "immoral" myself I am beyond the pale of American politics.

Drop the Kool-Aide, this guy would be a moderate Republican in the 70's and 80's.

How do you fight to change something that has no hope of ending within my lifetime (or even my children's lifetime)?I always teach and preach that, “we do what we can when we can". But is that enough? Is it ever enough? I don't have a option really. I have a family and bills to pay. So is Camus right? If living out life means that I'm neutral than there's never enough I can do. I've already embraced the dark side. Maybe this is why radicals never have families (Jesus, Buddha, etc.). You can't live out revolution if you've got kids to feed. That's the history of the world really - we're all too busy trying to survive (I hesitate to use the word "survive"; as my "surviving" is much different from survival in Somalia).

So, I'll do what I can. I'll read, think and act carefully. I'll teach about the nature of the beast in my class and plant seeds of doubt in those I interact with (believe me, my seeds are subtle and won't require a whole discussion on socialism, capitalism nor a "revolution" of any kind -- I'm too domesticated for that).

Besides, I have to mow the lawn and we all can't be revolutionaries.