Love is the Answer
(graphic found here)
Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.
~ Zelda Fitzgerald
Ted and I watched a very interesting episode of Bill Moyers Journal (you can watch the entire episode by following the link…it’s about an hour) the other day, one which dealt with Faith and Social Justice. The panelists were Cornel West, Serene Jones, and Gary Dorrien, three heavy hitting scholars and members of the social gospel movement. They were discussing what our ethics and values say about our society, most specifically how our system encourages greed and immoral conduct, and the culture of indifference in which we find ourselves.
They argued that the moral imperative is to look out, during a time of catastrophe, for those on the margins of society, those who need our help more than others. Instead, they said, our society is currently more focused on how the economic catastrophe affects the Wall Street elite. They argued that the important questions, for Christians and non-Christians alike, are, “How do we get people to rediscover love? Can love conquer the problems of capitalism? Can it conquer the gospel of prosperity?” In other words, how do we get people to stop focusing on increasing their own personal wealth, and instead focus on our society as a whole, and encouraging social justice for all. One answer, they said, is love. Love not only for the people that you know and care about in life, not only for God if you’re religious, but love for truth and true justice for all.
Love is not a small thing…it is people loving justice and each other enough that they are willing to fight for the rights of workers, the rights of women and gays and black people, the rights of children. Love for our fellow man is what makes us care enough to desire to contribute to the general welfare, rather than doing so only because of a sense of guilt or obligation. Love is what holds you in the struggle when the struggle seems endless and always uphill.
The thing is to recraft the idea of want, so that people are excited and motivated toward helping one another, rather than excited and motivated merely to own more and improve our own personal standards of living. We fight so hard for what we want, and what we want is often based in economics. What if we could change that passion and desire, so that what we really want and desire is to nurture communities, so that it matters to us that we respect each other, and that we are involved in the collective project of running this world, so there is comfortable room here for all of us. So that there isn’t such a vast chasm between rich and poor, between have and have-nots. What if we loved each other enough to recognize the humanity in the most down trodden amongst us, what if we stopped putting the richest amongst us on pedestals. Further, what if we stopped looking at people with material wealth as necessarily the best off amongst us. What if, instead, we truly believed that the most fortunate amongst us are those who work to help further social and economic justice?
These ideas are not new ones. They are not the property of Christians alone. They are both ancient and universal. They pre-date Christ and his teachings, and they can be found all over the world. They are great ideas, ideas that are worthy of revisiting over and over again. There will never be a perfect world here on Earth, but with courage, we can work every day toward making the world a better place than the one we inherited. Perhaps we have lost focus. I suspect the problem is more that we have never had this focus. Some small minority among us, yes, but not the greater collective.
They had some praise and criticism of President Obama…praise for the challenges that he is taking on, his work on the international stage and wanting to reform our health care system. Criticism for his failures in economic policy and not being progressive enough, for being held in the pockets of Wall Street and the lobbyists, rather than being courageous enough to listen to those who want to change and fix things. They said that progressives need to be more vocal and motivated in their passion to bring the voices of the poor and working class to Obama’s ears, rather than allowing him to continue to focus on the voices of the wealthy elite.
Following the discussion panel, the show revisited a story they did in April of 2008 on hunger in America, followed by the sobering news that the food banks they visited then have seen an increase of 45 – 60% in need in just this last year. The desperation of people trying to feed themselves and their children, people who have always worked hard for a living, but are now pushed to the sidelines by a brutal economy. When juxtaposed with the obscene amounts of money promised to the financial markets, it seems that we do indeed have some self-reflection ahead, both as individuals and as a society. Perhaps we cannot let our markets and our banks fail, perhaps the price would be too high. But at the same time, we should not let our citizens fail either. We should not marginalize the poor and hungry, the workers who struggle paycheck to paycheck. We cannot ignore the voices of everyday Americans. Public opinion powered by moral conviction. This is what is required.
I was inspired by this episode, and found it really interesting and hopeful. This economic crisis might be a time when we can transform ourselves, re-examine our own values and ideas. In the words of Mr. West,
“What kind of human being do you want to be, given your move from your mother’s womb to the tomb. What kind of virtues and values will you try to enact in your life?”
9 Comments
lilalia
Excellent post and you express so well many of the sentiments in my heart. The more this problematic situation persists, the more we each have to use all of our wits and resources to help those people who lives are marginalized through insufficient means, health, or education. Unemployment is hovering over my horizon again… so, I’ve taken up some volunteer work at Oxfam. Working helps keep off my feelings of helplessness and being in contact with people whose lives are in peril keeps my worries at bay.
Nance
Some who “read between the lines” of the philosophy espoused here will simply see Socialism rearing its head. We hear it constantly and see it on placards at these so-called “tea parties.” How very sad that when government tries to help those who are least capable of helping themselves, the haves circle their gold-plated wagons and toss out inflammatory words to further guard their hoards.
Starshine
Jules,
It sounds like a powerful interview. I have been thinking a lot about these issues as well, ever since reading RED LETTERS by Tom Davis. I wrote a book review here:
http://alwaysandforeverours.blogspot.com/2009/06/book-review-red-letters-by-tom-davis.html
I’ve seen a quote on one of the blogs I read that says it well:
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
Changing the world can start with you (and me!).
V-Grrrl
We always hear about those who don’t help themselves, who *won’t* work, who make poor choices, who have the *wrong* lifestyles, who waste or don’t appreciate what’s given them, who complain too much, who take advantage of the system, who have too many children.
My response? They’re not going to change. Does that absolve us of not only meeting their basic needs but the needs of others who appear more worthy of our efforts?
We need to tolerate the people who are *really* on the margins (in attitude and behavior, not just the economic sense) the way we tolerate crazy relatives. In other words, like it or not, they’re OURS.
So much easier to love and help those who think and act like we do but are in a bind.
Jimmy
Oh, lordy J…….don’t take offense but you know I believe in tough love!
I think the Parable of the bird feeder best describes my position on this, and I’m nothing but poor white trash who lives in a mobile home?
“Parable of the bird feeder”
“I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. What a beauty of a bird feeder it is, as I filled it lovingly with seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food.
But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue.
Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table … everywhere!
Then some of the birds turned mean. They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket.
And others birds were boisterous and loud. They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.
After a while, I couldn’t even sit on my own back porch anymore. So I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio.
Soon, the back yard was like it used to be … quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.
Now let’s see …. Our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, and free education and allows anyone born here to be an automatic citizen.
Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families; you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor; your child’s 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn’t speak English.
Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to “press one” to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than “Old Glory” are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.
Just my opinion, but maybe it’s time for the government to take down the bird feeder.
If you agree, pass it on; if not, continue cleaning up the poop!”
debra
Beautiful, thought-provoking post. Well done.
dadwhowrites
Lovely post – though in a capitalist society, it could be argued that there is never a time that is NOT a catastrophe for those on the margins.
Comments on tough love. I’d better keep my mouth shut. And yeah, evey now and then, I clean up a little poop.
apathy lounge
I respect Bill Moyers a great deal. I hope people give Obama time to reverse the enormous messes created by the last eight years before they begin throwing stones.
Ted
Jimmy: Our government “gives out” quite a lot to many groups in society… And since the implosion of global capitalism in 2008, the amount of bird seed doled out to prop up the housing industry, banks, the auto industry, the wars we’re involved in and the like pales in comparison to what illegals take from The System in terms of benefits.