I once ran a rather large health care agency. One of the specialized staff was hired at a premium salary, reflecting that there are some jobs that require special skills and knowledge. One year later, that same person was demanding a raise, though they had done nothing particularly noteworthy during the previous year. This person was already rather wealthy and did not even need their salary to take care of their family. My question was, “how much is enough”?
We live in a society where how much you have directly tells you your self-worth. Not just your net worth, your self worth. How did we get to this? Well, advertising pushes it on us, to pursue more, get something new every time. There is another factor, however and that has to do with my Baby boomer generation. My parents, from the depression years, wanted to give me and my brother what they never had, as did that entire WWII generation of parents. They did it, they gave it all to us. We baby boomers took that to heart and said we must do the same for our children. And that is the problem, because we already had more than enough, all our parents never had, and yet we wanted more for our kids.
Now our kids, gen x and millennials, feel entitled to more, to everything. And there you have it, we are responsible for the ongoing problem of greed and entitlement. We never taught the idea that we should be thankful for having enough and that more is not better. So what do we do now? First, we return ourselves to our calling as Christians and as humans, to love and to be our brother’s (and sister’s) keeper.
Currently, our country is based on greed. “I got mine, you can go get yours”. Except that doesn’t work for those who are oppressed. We need to remember our calling in God, to love those who are poor, oppressed, and in need. We need to remember that if anyone is in need, we are all responsible. Jesus and the Buddha spent their time with those sorts of people. Those in need were extremely thankful for any attention and any help.
And, we who are often in spiritual need, have no problem asking the Eternal for help, which is as it should be. Yet, we forget that we get to ask for help and condemn those in need. When will we reflect the Eternal in ourselves and hear the cries of the oppressed, of the poor, of the elderly? If not now when? If not you or I, then who?
TMM