I see no greater cause than to bring attention to the poor, the oppressed, and to put words and action into the world on their behalf, as it is often our silence which oppresses and robs from those who could be our greatest teachers. What can I be doing? It’s an ever-present question that I can never answer with words. Life is an ongoing challenge and opportunity. It’s nothing that can be put to words honestly. But we do our best to communicate and share our existence with others. At the moment that is by expressing my deep concern for the world community as an increasingly distant and malnourished community. As few of us feed off the production of the rest of our brothers and sisters, we have come to understand that growing appetite to not only be natural but inherently good. The idea of struggling and sharing bread together has been lost in increased corners of our inhabitation. This has been lost not only in the realm of human relations, but also between our species and the others that share this world with us.
Philanthropists are praised for their goodwill, when really what less could be expected of those with so much in the sight of so much poverty. Where do I have room to voice such thoughts except in the ideal world of words? Words must always be dual in their application: personal and communal. There is great importance in recognizing the purely outrageous difference in standards of living. That is not to say that the world should be suited in glass skyscrapers and covered in business suits and Nike’s. It is to say that when we all decide to share what we have and care for our neighbors, we will all find ourselves having less materially and more that is life-giving.
Great wealth creates for its possessor possibilities to be more highly valued. While the rebels still refuse to live by this system of acknowledgment, the world is dominated by such customs. Imagine that nothing was needed to trade because trust was such that any human being had the worth to experience what was being offered…not by men but merely in the existence of the earth. That we take things to possess for our own value is proof of our broken community. It is a self-perpetuating problem, which might only be reversed by those who can reveal the truth of each person’s worth through just and impartial love. Such people might only be the stars of fairytales, but where did the fairytales come from? It might not be a consistent life, but we can find in each other those characters which inspire us to true life and love. When such individuals are brought out through encouraging communities, we realize the truth of life, and can imagine a greater world community based on non-circumstantial love. Perhaps the only goal, here in these words is to inspire those who can hear to honor that life they can find in each creature, human or other. And if not that just for myself, to see my words, and know them as a conviction of what I know should be.