the rich are different from you and me- high school edition

i got a batch of essays yesterday in the mail written by students in response to my materialism rant. i didn't know about it until i got them, but my super cool friend elizabeth owen teaches chemistry at a houston high school and assigned her students to write a response to my diatribe for extra credit. she began her essay prompt with gandhi's quote "be the change you wish to see in the world" and then attached my article. some of my favorites copied verbatim:

on dogs:
"In my definition of "useless stuff"is like one of the example the writer wrote "dressing up their dog." Really? Is that really necessary? In my opinion I think a dog should be a dog because I work at this upper class restaurant and occasionally the customer would bring their pet. They [the customer with the dog] treat their dog as a real human. For instant, I am a hostess there and Amy [a usual customer] always comes in with her pet dog. When I first met her, she came in by herself with the dog. So I asked her "just one for today?" and she said "no table for two please" so I sat her down and assuming that she is waiting for someone then later I realize that the other person was the dog!"

"I admit I do buy my dog expensive clothes, and the best dog tags, and the biggest bed there is. But I never sat there and thought about what I could do with the money instead of spending it on useless things."

on "if you are reading this from the united states you are rich"
"the was an inaccurate comment, the united states is a very wealthy country, but why does the writer have to stereotype the country like that, I am assuming the writer is a person that is one of the people that has struggles in life..."

"he conveys that Americans that are not rich are rich in other countries. This statement is highly true. I believe that the poor have more benefits here then the poor in other countries."

"Apparently this article says I am rich, which I am not, because I don't have any money. I guess in a way or two I am rich because my family does have money enough to support us. Thankfully I have that for me. My parents have good stable jobs and I am going to college."

from a future republican:
"Valid points were made but overall the blog was ridicule... To say that being successful is unbiblical is the most outrageous thing I've heard in years... We are all accountable for ourselves. Why should we be accountable for the poor? What reason should we be accountable for the poor? I don't understand I feel everyone has a chance to do something with there life. Everyone's life is in their own hands know one can determine your future accept you."

i would tell this kid, absolutely, everyone is accountable for themselves. and as a country, we are only accountable to what the democratically elected leaders commit us to in regards to aid. as individuals, however, the bible absolutely states that we are accountable for the welfare of the poor. and yes, i can see where my blog could be taken as ridicule out of context. i do not think that being successful is unbiblical, but i know for sure that what we do with success often becomes unbiblical when it focuses not on the world but on ourselves.

on gandhi:
"Mr. Mahatma Gandhi is dead on with this article because many people's lives revolve around things of the materialistic nature and the rich spend money on things they don't really need but they just merely want them because they have the means to obtain them. As from my above response it can be derived that I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Mahatma Gandhi."

in conclusion (felt like going high school on you there), i am glad to know kids are thinking about this and touched that elizabeth would send these to me. but i am mildly horrified that a few interpreted it as gandhi's words. one day when they finally learn who gandhi is they'll be like, "oh yeah, the dude who wrote that crazy article about dog clothes." while gandhi was not as sarcastic as i am, i'm pretty sure since he didn't wear fancy clothes of his own that he wouldn't be too keen on the whole dog clothes thing either. so maybe he would agree with me. to remind everyone, the purpose of my original post was not to condemn materialism. i simply believe that materialism should be put in proper perspective that comes from knowledge of the world and its harsh realities that americans usually neglect or deny.

it's not the buying of things that's unethical, it's the lack of engagement in the world that i believe we are all accountable for. buy stuff, knock yourself out. but if you lose yourself in that stuff and don't engage others through service, relationships, donations or whatever your gifting is, then the stuff then becomes a wall, essentially, to the rest of the exquisitely pained and beautiful world. rant officially concluded.