Thinking about rich and poor...

Envy, anger, confusion and questioning.

This week I have been forced to think about rich and poor and the gap between. There have been several ways this whole subject has been pushed into my consciousness. I am confused, as usual. Let me share some of what has happened.

Reading: I have been reading a paper by Andrew Bradstock from Otago University entitled; "A Global Economic Crisis: Too good an opportunity to waste." His argument is that as we look for ways out of the crisis we should be asking questions about the values upon which our economic system is based. He writes; "If our key concern is to ask, what economic arrangements make for genuine human flourishing, I believe we must at least challenge the assumption that all we require of markets is their capacity to increase our ability to earn, spend and consume more." He points out that France is "to include happiness and well-being in its measurements of economic progress." He lists off a number of reasons why we should challenge current economic values and look for new directions. 40 odd years ago John V Taylor wrote similar things in a book called "Enough is Enough" and quoted other writers suggesting different directions. They were rubbished by bean-counters then and whenever I have raised similar questions,(and to be honest I have generally been too fearful to do it often) I have been rubbished. It is like people are saying, "How DARE you question the holy economic growth principles" But increasingly there simply are lots of reasons we need to be looking for more people/value/earth and well-being centred approaches. Jesus is reported to have said, "One does not live by bread alone..." 

That Gap: He also points to the gap between rich and poor being a major problem. "As Wilkinson and Pickett point out in their path-breaking book, The Spirit Level, countries with high levels of inequality (like New Zealand) will imprison a larger proportion of their population, have more obesity, more teenage pregnancies, worse mental health and shorter average life-spans than those countries with much lower levels of income inequality." More equal countries do better on almost all social indices. (This is not new, the prophets in the Old Testament said the same sort of thing.)

Cars: A man showed me his new (secondhand) car the other night. He didn't tell me how much it cost, but by the way he was avoiding it I think it cost a lot. It was a 5.7 litre Holden, all the bells and whistles imaginable, leather seats etc etc. I could not help thinking that my 2.4 litre 20 year old Nissan Bluebird ("Wicked Wanda" by name, photo above) can get up to too fast a speed too easily, what on earth a modern 5.7 litre would do is hard to imagine! He told me all of its flash ingredients, technical data and how fast he had been in it. It was mind blowing, but as I climbed into Wanda (Which cost me $1300) I had to ask myself, "Why? Why the extravagance? The expense? the petrol costs?" Mainly it is because of status and how we look to others. We humans are weird.  Benjamin Franklin said; "It is the eyes of other people that ruin us. If all but myself were blind I should want neither a fine house nor fine furniture." (They didn't have fancy Holden cars then) 

Trips: For several reasons overseas travel has been a topic of conversation. I have a good friend in Paris now. She is traveling to the UK for her work. I was talking with people who have been on various overseas tours, to the UK, to China, to Africa, to various Asian destinations and they were talking hotels, events, adventures and sights seen. On Thursday night I listened to a lady speak about her travels and adventures in what used to be Burma, and the several journeys she had made. Amongst the group attending the night, her presentation sparked lots of travel anecdotes. I have of course, been talking about our planned six week trip later in the year to Poland, Europe and the UK. In one group where people were sharing their stories it hit me quite strongly. One person was sitting listening in silence. Then after a time they got up, said the briefest "goodbye" and left the room. It wasn't till after they had gone that I realised that this person's situation in life meant that probably they would have a snowballs-chance-in-hell of ever doing such tripping around. I wondered if they were filled with envy, sadness or somehow disturbed because of all these "rich" people telling of adventures that were inaccessible to them. (Not that I'm rich... I will be truly stretching the budget to get there!) The aforementioned inequality was evident!

Friday night drop-in: You may know that I spend Friday night's at our drop-in centre. As I played pool, table tennis and talked with people I was very aware of the poverty all around me. One man received some spare clothing we had. Another family we gave some basic food to. Most of these people have been spat out the back of our systems. The education system or the health system or the job market has let them down. Mostly this has happened because these systems are governed by the values expressed by our economic system, placing little value on these people's well-being. Other goals govern the spending. One guy came up to me and said he was looking forward to the weekend. I asked "Why?" "I am going to Waihola tomorrow!" he said excitedly. Waihola is a small, muddy, weed infested lake about 40 kilometres inland from Dunedin. To him this was a big adventure. To most at our drop-in a trip out of town is a real treat. I felt like I was part of a spoiled elite even contemplating a big overseas expedition. Someone has said that "The true measure of the health of any society is how it treats it's weakest members." 

But... I would still love the latest Mac pro lap top... an I phone would be good... and my old van is being written off by an insurance company, a nice replacement would be good. ... You see when it comes to wealth, riches and poverty, I struggle for answers. Life's a journey and often there are not black and white answers. Frequently the truth lies in journeying "in tension", keeping in mind a whole lot of perspectives, values and realities, and picking a path between them.