the rich are different from you and me

in bangkok recently i was having dinner with a friend working with the poor and oppressed. we got to talking about our distaste for american materialism and how it distances americans from the world at large. at a certain point, doesn't it seem like the stuff we buy becomes almost unethical? let's face it, the american dream is unbiblical; god does not desire for us to work independently towards comfort and success and retire in our pile of stuff. non-christians get this too. the stuff we accumulate insulates us from the suffering of others and makes the realities of the world- war, death, disease- seem more remote. but where to begin? it's not that buying a porsche is unethical, but it's tempting to brand it as such when that $80,000 could otherwise provide clean water for thousands of africans. but really, those comparisons are moot. if i buy gum, sure, that money could have gone to the poor, but the gum company employs people, etc. i have friends that completely disavow labels and materialism and try to live as ascetically and humbly as possible. i have other friends that insist they have worked hard for their wealth and they deserve to spend it as they see fit. how do you reconcile the two?

i've struggled with this for years traveling to and from places i've worked in developing countries back to my life amongst wealth and privilege in texas and never really come to a satisfactory answer. all i know is that it doesn't quite sit right with me that there is such a disparity, an injustice, between what i see overseas and what i witness at home. but how do you determine what is just and what is excess? it obviously is not as easy as blame the rich (by the way, if you are reading this from the US, you are the rich). the rich drive economies, provide jobs, fund important social and charitable functions, and i suppose they're people too. and as for the poor it isn't that they are simply "so happy and have so little." i hear this often from people in the states and it's true to a degree, but it makes me want to throw up. sure, poor people are happy, but they aren't merely happy savages. the poor people i know are often tired, hungry and beaten down and desperately want their kids to be able to go to school and have access to healthcare. yes, people who are poor have the capacity for happiness, but why does this surprise us so much? i think americans confuse happiness with resiliency. the poor can be happy or sad, but most of all they continue on despite hardships because they must.

if you are rich or super rich or spend or don't spend what truly matters is that you engage suffering and poverty. are you meaningfully engaged in the reality that life is tortured and difficult for the majority of the world? are you engaged in the fight for social justice? can you empathize with the poor? to be sure there is poverty in america- emotional, spiritual and financial. and i'm not condemning people that don't live as i do, but simply hoping that no matter where anyone is, they are engaging the world around them. i can't say that spending x amount of money on a car is a sin or condemn anyone for it, but if you have little regard for others, i'm pretty sure you're going to hell. just kidding. expenses are relative- i get that. as much as i am tempted to vilify american consumerism, i am guilty of it. but i would encourage anyone, no matter how much they have or how much they deny themselves, to become engaged in their world through knowledge, relationships, donations or volunteerism, be it local or foreign.

the have nots will always blame the haves and the haves will always spend money on unnecessary stuff for their dogs (don't get me started), but so long as the rich are meaningfully engaged in the lives of the poor and have an understanding that they are still connected to the world of human suffering, i suppose they can buy clothes for their dogs. just because you live in america and have a comfortable life does not mean that you're not accountable for the well-being of the poor or that you are too far removed from the oppression, diseases and famines of the world. you are human. you can thank your lucky stars that you were not born a woman in iran or a boy in the congo or anyone in burma. with that gratitude that comes something much stronger than noblesse oblige or even guilt: a common humanity.
photo