We Owe The Poor
We
That's you and that's me and it's more than an apology
We owe the poor.
We owe them for the food we swiped from their mouths so that we could indulge our apetites and for the clothes we stripped from their backs so that we could wear our favorite brands.
We owe them for living the lifestyle that they will never live and we further owe them for being impressed by even more than this.
We owe them for the rest they never received and for all the years of jubilee we let pass by unacknowledged.
We who seek to accumulate, owe it to ourselves to allow that part of us to die--the part that so desires to be seen as great in the eyes of kings.
The God of compassion and love invites us to draw close, to be embraced, to find our freedom in the giving of freedom to others, to find our hope in the sharing of hope with others, to find our treasure by giving our treasure away.
We--we as well as they--need a new kind of wealth, the wealth of love, the year of Jubilee.
That's you and that's me and it's more than an apology
We owe the poor.
We owe them for the food we swiped from their mouths so that we could indulge our apetites and for the clothes we stripped from their backs so that we could wear our favorite brands.
We owe them for living the lifestyle that they will never live and we further owe them for being impressed by even more than this.
We owe them for the rest they never received and for all the years of jubilee we let pass by unacknowledged.
We who seek to accumulate, owe it to ourselves to allow that part of us to die--the part that so desires to be seen as great in the eyes of kings.
The God of compassion and love invites us to draw close, to be embraced, to find our freedom in the giving of freedom to others, to find our hope in the sharing of hope with others, to find our treasure by giving our treasure away.
We--we as well as they--need a new kind of wealth, the wealth of love, the year of Jubilee.
Comments
This is absolutely beautiful.
Flushing toilets are not necessarily a sign of wealth or "luxury," and thinking so may be typical of a person from a Western nation with flushing toilets. The type of toilet one place uses is often due to cultural norms rather than status.
I assume that your main point is to end the "seek to accumulate" by which I assume your mean consumerism. I can't help but think, however, that "to find our freedom in the giving of freedom to others" seems to come very much from an "I am on top and choosing to give up to you poor souls who can't get freedom." It is as though their freedom depends on our giving them freedom. Freedom itself is a tricky word.
I do really appreciate your ending that we do need "a new kind of wealth." The year of jubilee in a globalized context, however, is quite difficult. What is that we would be redistributing? Would they want what we are giving them? How do we do it without it becoming a repeat of the white man's burden or some other similar concept? I really appreciate your spirit, I just don't quite know about some of the letters you used.