Happy New Year! (Yea, I know I am 8 days late, but there you have it!)
I just returned from Hawaii. My wife went to speak at a conference for her work...and being the incredible husband that I am, I went with her to Hawaii for moral support. (You know, run her Powerpoint presentation...take pictures for the newsletter... it was the least I could do to be a supportive husband.)
So I guess I could write a "this is what I did on my January vacation blog" but who wants to know that information? I mean, do you really care? Are you going to take your precious blogging minutes to read about my vacation? ("...and on your left is the worlds largest ball of string") Do you really have that much time on your hands? Probably not.
So let me share the most "impactful" thought I had on my vacation.
On the plane flight (almost 10 hours total) I started reading a book called, "Nickled and Dimed: On (not) getting by in America." The author took a year of her life and worked minimum wage jobs (waitress, house cleaning, etc) and tried to survive. As she experiences the work world, she writes about her experiences and reflects on issues. That is a lousy summary...but you can look it up.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0805063897/002-9490137-0643213?v=glance
So I went through my vacation very aware of the people who were serving us in the hospitality and service industry. Hawaii lives on tourism. There are thousands of people working tourism who are making next to nothing. The housing costs there are astronomical. So here you have people working for next to nothing with incredibly high cost of living. Some sleep on the beach. Some live multiples per room. And yet they serve people who drop hundreds of dollars (thousands of dollars) in seconds. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
And so once again, I was very aware of how much I tipped, how I treated the people who waited tables, took pictures and gave tours. Unlike on the mainland, in many cases, these folks were not high school or college students looking to some extra cash so they could go to the prom or party on spring break. These were people working to survive. I was painfully aware that what many people would drop on dinner and some drinks would take the people serving them a day of hard labor to make.
I don't believe in communism. I don't think we ought to all make the same money regardless of education level or what we do or the quality of our work. I think that system would create a kind of mediocrity that we should not strive for.
But what responsibility do we have to other human beings as a part of a global community? How can we create a base line of living so that all people can have adequate food, housing and medical care? Don't we all deserve access to education? What politically should be done? What about me as an individual person? What do you do?
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3 comments:
This issue has to start on a personal level. Americans, including those bussing tables, are in the top 4-5% (depending on who you ask) of the wealthiest people on Earth. The problem is getting us wealthy Americans to believe that we really are very fortunate. Between house and car payments, credit card bills, and our can't-live-without lattes, it's hard to see that we're swimming in financial resources. I know that everytime my car payment comes due, it reminds me of HOW LITTLE I have. So, I think we need to balance those reminders with reminders of HOW MUCH we have.
An example: I've been dreaming about buying a 2005 Ford Mustang for about a year now. For a while I had placed a picture of one on my computer desktop to remind me of how wonderful it would be to own one. One day as I was staring into its beautiful round headlights, I realized that some kid in Colombia was living in a mud hut on a cup of rice a day. I realized this partly because I sponsor two such children through Compassion International (http://www.compassion.com/), and I had just gotten a letter from Yuliana telling me how happy she was to be able to go to school because of my $28/mth. To put that in perspective, my car current car payment was $411/mth. Yes, if I rode my bike and sold my car (impractical, but you get the idea), I could care for 14 children in developing countries each month. Crazy, isn't it? I've also been to such countries, like Ecuador, and have seen first hand how people there live, and it would make our bus boys look like kings. At any rate, after the letter, I switched my desktop picture to one of another Compassion child. Since then, I've gone back to the Mustang, favorite graphics, and a few other photos of people in need (including those I met in Ecuador), just to keep things in perspective.
That said, our American service staff are on the low end of the totem pole here, and if we have the ability to help them out, even by giving a more generouse tip, we should. Done ranting.
you are supposed to rant! That is what you do on these things!
I spent this last weekend at a men's retreat at my church. The speaker was a nationally renowned Christian speaker who has really been offending evangelicals lately.
I was anxious to hear him to see why he was offending so many conservative Christians.
He spent a good deal of time talking about what Jesus would be doing if he were walking the earth today -- and I found it hard to disagree with him. Would Jesus be working for a specific political party? Would Jesus be pushing for a constitutional amendment banning Gay Marriage? Would Jesus be publishing books, movies, and music and becoming a millionaire in the process ( and call it ministry).
This speaker suggested that Jesus would be working to make sure that Children were not starving -- that innocent people were not being ravaged by the AIDS epidemic, etc. etc. He asked if Jesus were rich - would he buy an $80,000 BMW or would he buy a good used car and then spend the difference making sure kids were not starving.
I was challenged -- more than I have been challenged in quite some time. What am I doing on this earth. Building up personal wealth -- investment accounts, bigger homes, nicer cars, that new ipod I could not llive without. What am I teaching my kids. There are kids starving in the world and I can do more than I am doing -- I am ashamed of myself. Can I feed every kid - NO - but I can feed some kids -- YES!
I was so proud of myself because I tithe. Yes, I give the church 10% off the top. I thought Jesus must really be impressed with me. I can do more - I can give 10% without evening noticing. What am I thinking?
Paul - (my name is Paul too, by the way) -- I could not believe how timely your thoughts were as read your posting from your vacation.
My wife and I are developing new priorities -- we have been blessed -- we can do more -- we MUST do more!
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