We are each met daily by statements from others asking us,
beseeching us, to do or think something different than what we might. For example, Pope Francis recently stated:
“I
ask you to ensure that humanity is served by wealth and not ruled by it.”
I think this is a very good thought to live by. Wealth ought
to serve human needs, not the other way around. We often work hard to earn
income and wealth, amass it even, then parlay it to even greater heights of
wealth. For what purpose? Lavish lifestyles? Influence? Power. Wealthy to serve
humanity or humanity to serve wealth?
In America
we have allowed wealth to do both. The problem is wealth is gaining ground on
ruling humanity as opposed to serving it. Wealth buys influence in legislative
circles. It buys candidates and gets them elected. Those with less cash are
less powerful in electing people to positions of authority in which the needs
of humanity are considered primary.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) provides another admonition,
quite similar to our first quote:
“I think that across the board,
whether you’re a conservative or whether you’re a progressive, if you’re in the
middle class, you know that there’s something wrong when 95% of all new income
has gone to the top 1% since the Wall Street crash. People think that’s not
right.”
I agree with him. It is not right that the wealthy continue
to gather more wealth while others are losing theirs. Those losing financial strength are the
backbone of the nation and the economy. They are the educators, the laborers,
the thinkers and scientists. They are the doers. And lest we forget it, they
are also the consumers with buying power that ensures the wealthy continue to
hold onto their wealth and gain even more. It the middle class – the doers –
are ill paid and humbled with continuing waves of unemployment, then the goods
and services produced by the owner class will find their own despair in time.
It is common sense, common logic. We would do well to invest in the middle
class and strengthen it for the good of all, especially the wealthy.
From a website known as GrammarlyCards, comes this advice:
“If you are not willing to learn,
no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you.”
When combined with the previous citation the strength of the
learner excels. First because someone is providing the opportunity to learn and
he/she takes that opportunity on, and second that not doing so only continues
the person in the depths of wherever they are. Personal ambition is a good
thing. It motivates individuals to exercise all of their strengths for their
own good and for those around them. A scientific breakthrough or discovery aids
the person finding it, but also the users who benefit from it throughout
society. Simply consider the advancements of American culture and society from
the efforts of the space industry. Higher standards of living through
chemistry, engineering, electronics, and much more. Think of the medical
breakthroughs allowed by the advancements pioneered by the space industry! And
the educational systems and studies revamped because of those advancements.
Patrick Stewart, actor extraordinaire, and also a gay icon,
gives us this quote:
“What
we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived.”
Amen to that! Life contains much to explore and to value. To
understand and grow in appreciation of life is another facet worth our efforts.
We are not perfect in any manner of thinking, but we are more perfect if we
honestly pursue who we are individually and who we are as a culture and
society. It is not automatically given or understood. It must be worked at and
for. Only then do we grow appreciation
for what we are capable of.
It is that that constructs all the hope we can harbor for
the future. Only we can do that. No one else, wealthy or not!
November 5, 2014
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