The human predicament that you percieve may simply be your own predicament. How do we, as individuals, approach this predicament knowing that it will never be solved?
Give your food to the hungry and care for the homeless.
Then your light will shine in the dark;
your darkest hour will be like the noonday sun.
The LORD will always guide you and provide good things to eat when you are in the desert.
He will make you healthy.
You will be like a garden that has plenty of water
or like a stream that never runs dry.
You will rebuild those houses left in ruins for years;
you will be known as a builder and repairer of city walls and streets. -Isaiah 58:10-12
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
What is new and what is old?
I got back from Seattle tonight. I thought that my weekend spent there was going to be more or less about falling in love. I love the city of Seattle. Instead I spent the weekend learning, which is in itself a beautiful thing, although it is harder than falling in love. This is what I have been thinking about lately. I am using a numeric system because they are not coherent thoughts as of now.
1. Moving forward is not always progress. My World Litereature teacher reminds us of this while we study ancienty texts. What is progress? It is easy for us to say that we have become more advanced over the years and that we are reaching a state closer to perfection with time. Is this true? Is new always better than old?
2. Likewise, someone told me this summer that life does not always have to be exponential. I do not know if I can accept that. I do not know if I can rationalize this philosophy with my state of being human. While we learn how to be human, it should be expected that some lessons will be harder to learn individually. Succession is not always exponential and advances are not always new. There are some stressors in our lives that are outward. They have nothing to do with what we inwardly know to be true. What is our definition of success aside from a societal, capitalist viewpoint?
3. I had numerous discussions about poverty in the past week. Not poverty itself, but how poverty is defined and how it becomes something of knowledge that then should be grasped. Maybe this is not possible but it is worth an effort. I will begin with a disclaimer and state that no matter how you define poverty, we have all experienced it at one time or another. I do not say this because I hope to identify with those who live in a constant state of poverty; hence lessening the extent to which others have experienced disparity. I will never understand poverty in its physical form. I pray that I will never wake up feeling, tasting, and smelling poverty and then go to bed, never having exchanged those feelings. On Wednesday, I had a secular discussion on poverty in a seminar atmosphere. It was interesting to hear people who claim to have no religious beliefs grapple with the idea that there is more to being rich and poor than can be defined by financial status. There are different ways that our lives are made wealthy. I think the best definition of poverty is given by Dr. Richard Heinzl, founder of Doctors Without Borders Canada, when he says that poverty is the lack of choice. When we witness others or ourselves living in situations without access to opportunity and no way to change that situation, than we or they are living in a state of poverty. It is neccesary to ask what choices people in poverty have to make and how they compare to our own choices. They are different choices than mine own. They relate more closely to the natural human instinct of survival. However, it can be argued that every one of our actions is tied to this characteristic of humans that says we must provide for ourselves. What choices are taken away from those living in poverty? The choice of where to live is taken away from a refugee. The choice of how many children to have and whether or not it is possible to then raise them to lead healthy lifestyles is taken away from, or never given to, a woman who does not hace access to resources for family planning.
4. Worldly standards tell us that wealth comes from the outside. Wealth is something tangible to be earned through our work. Wealth is a vehicle to attain value in the present economy. Society derives its self-defined value system from these prevailing notions. I have this much. Therefore, I am worth this much. I believe we must pray not for more blessings, but for God himself. Search my heart God and know that it is yours. Find heart, Katelyn, and know that it is God's will.
1. Moving forward is not always progress. My World Litereature teacher reminds us of this while we study ancienty texts. What is progress? It is easy for us to say that we have become more advanced over the years and that we are reaching a state closer to perfection with time. Is this true? Is new always better than old?
2. Likewise, someone told me this summer that life does not always have to be exponential. I do not know if I can accept that. I do not know if I can rationalize this philosophy with my state of being human. While we learn how to be human, it should be expected that some lessons will be harder to learn individually. Succession is not always exponential and advances are not always new. There are some stressors in our lives that are outward. They have nothing to do with what we inwardly know to be true. What is our definition of success aside from a societal, capitalist viewpoint?
3. I had numerous discussions about poverty in the past week. Not poverty itself, but how poverty is defined and how it becomes something of knowledge that then should be grasped. Maybe this is not possible but it is worth an effort. I will begin with a disclaimer and state that no matter how you define poverty, we have all experienced it at one time or another. I do not say this because I hope to identify with those who live in a constant state of poverty; hence lessening the extent to which others have experienced disparity. I will never understand poverty in its physical form. I pray that I will never wake up feeling, tasting, and smelling poverty and then go to bed, never having exchanged those feelings. On Wednesday, I had a secular discussion on poverty in a seminar atmosphere. It was interesting to hear people who claim to have no religious beliefs grapple with the idea that there is more to being rich and poor than can be defined by financial status. There are different ways that our lives are made wealthy. I think the best definition of poverty is given by Dr. Richard Heinzl, founder of Doctors Without Borders Canada, when he says that poverty is the lack of choice. When we witness others or ourselves living in situations without access to opportunity and no way to change that situation, than we or they are living in a state of poverty. It is neccesary to ask what choices people in poverty have to make and how they compare to our own choices. They are different choices than mine own. They relate more closely to the natural human instinct of survival. However, it can be argued that every one of our actions is tied to this characteristic of humans that says we must provide for ourselves. What choices are taken away from those living in poverty? The choice of where to live is taken away from a refugee. The choice of how many children to have and whether or not it is possible to then raise them to lead healthy lifestyles is taken away from, or never given to, a woman who does not hace access to resources for family planning.
4. Worldly standards tell us that wealth comes from the outside. Wealth is something tangible to be earned through our work. Wealth is a vehicle to attain value in the present economy. Society derives its self-defined value system from these prevailing notions. I have this much. Therefore, I am worth this much. I believe we must pray not for more blessings, but for God himself. Search my heart God and know that it is yours. Find heart, Katelyn, and know that it is God's will.
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